Titans v Slade
by Splinter1
Summary: ***Dedicated to Anne McCaffrey*** This story has several components: Slade's return, Terra's reaction and how she copes with her fears that she'll be forced to return to him, A trip to the desert, Terra's revenge and Slade still manages to cause havoc with several bombs in the city, leaving Edward in a bad position protecting Raven.
1. Terra discovers the truth about Slade

**Titans vs. Slade  
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_December, 2011_

_Author's note: All Teen Titan characters are owned by DC Comics and Warner Brothers._

_Remember that anything in brackets is Edward and Raven using their telepathic link._

**[Prologue]  
>[October 30, 2010]<strong>

_Terra writes…_

_I thought the nightmare was over. I thought Slade had been killed when I dumped him into the lava when that volcano started to erupt…before I was petrified._

_But, over the last few weeks, the nightmares have gotten worse and it's affecting me badly. I try to put on the brave face for the team. But, Garfield's not fooled by it. He knows something's wrong._

_So does Raven. She hasn't said anything, but, she can sense how mixed up I've become recently. I'm sure she's brought it up with Edward. It's not like they can hide anything from one another._

_But, what the team is about to tell me…I don't know how to handle it._

**Chapter 1  
>[Titan Tower Common Area]<strong>

Terra walked into the general living quarters of the Titan Tower and found out that, for once, it was empty. That suited her just fine as she wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone right away. She wanted to sit back and watch some news.

That would prove to be a mistake.

She turned on the KJMP news and saw a report that frightened her. It was a report on Slade Wilson…AKA Deathstroke. The reporter was probably aware that Slade had managed to survive his lava bath somehow as the camera showed his symbol on a building.

"This symbol, reportedly the mark of Slade," the reporter said, "Was recently discovered on the side of this building. I'm here in the northern end of Jump City where this mark has not been seen since Slade's failed attempt to take over the city.

"As viewers may remember, Slade and his then apprentice Terra Markov started a reign of terror before being ultimately stopped by the Teen Titans.

"During the fight, Ms. Markov's powers triggered a volcano that should have destroyed Jump City, however, she sacrificed herself to stop the volcano.

"Recently, we learned that Ms. Markov was freed from her stone prison by the same team that defeated her and Slade's plans. The Titans, as they prefer to be called now, had recently inducted a new member: Edward Barnes. Barnes, a shapeshifting Dragon, realized that Ms. Markov was still somehow alive and convinced the other Titans to help free her.

"Since then, Ms. Markov has rarely been seen outside of the tower. However, we have exclusive footage of her fighting the dragon known as Malchior."

The station cut to footage of the Titans fighting Malchior a month and a half prior. It ended when Terra unleashed her powers to put Malchior under hundreds of tons of rock.

"When we tried to ask about this, Robin stated that the Titans would not be commenting on that episode, and that it was an internal matter for the team.

"Edward Barnes, when asked, also said that he would have no comment on that incident."

"'I'm sorry, folks,'" Edward was saying on tape, "'I'm not going to comment on any fights in the desert. It's a non-issue with me and, I would strongly urge that this matter be dropped. As Robin said, this is a matter that the Titans had to handle.'"

By then, Terra was near tears.

The report continued on, "Reports at the time indicated that Slade had been killed during the volcanic eruption along with Ms. Markov. The reappearance of these markings, however, would cast doubt on even that."

"I killed him!" Terra said, "I saw his mask burn. He's got to be dead!" She wept bitterly, not realizing that her distress was reaching a certain empath loudly and clearly.

[Oh no!] Raven called to Edward via their link.

[I see it, dear,] Edward called out, [That damned reporter might have just told Terra that Slade's still alive. Find BB, please.]

[Will do, hon,] Raven said. In the previous weeks, she'd stopped calling him various terms of endearment out loud, but, in the privacy of the link…that was a totally different story.

Edward ran to the commons as the report was ending, to find Terra in a fetal position, sobbing her eyes out.

"It's not true! IT CAN'T BE TRUE!" she screamed.

Edward sighed as he sat down and tried to pull Terra into a hug. She latched onto him quickly.

"It's all right, Terra," Edward said quietly.

"He's dead, right?" Terra asked him, knowing that he'd tell the truth, "Please, tell me that rat bastard's dead!"

"Terra," Edward said, "I'm so sorry…"

Terra screamed, "NO! I KILLED HIM! I SAW HIM DIE!"

Edward's heart broke. He was having to quickly shore up his mental shields against the geomancer's anguish, but, in doing so, he had to shut out Raven as well.

He couldn't find the words to even begin to comfort her, so, he held her tight.

"He's gotta be dead," she said.

By then, Beast Boy and Raven had come in. Beast Boy jumped over the couch in cat form, then, switched back to human to sit next to Terra. She was sobbing wildly, her hair starting to blow in different directions.

"Her powers!" Raven realized, "We gotta calm her down!"

"Terra, I'm here," Beast Boy said, stroking her back. She released her death grip on Edward and went to her boyfriend and best friend.

"Slade's dead, isn't he?" she asked.

Beast Boy had a lot more courage that moment.

"No," BB said, "He came back from hell."

Terra let off a primal scream of pain. It was so strong that both Edward and Raven were floored by the intensity. He risked opening the link for a moment.

[Damn!] Edward said, [This is a DISASTER! How can we help her?]

[It was a chance we had to take,] Raven said, a sad sigh coming through the link.

Terra was simply hysterical. All Beast Boy could do was hold her as she cried.

"What am I going to do?" she wept, "Slade knows I'm back as well now! He promised to make me keep that oath! He'll come for me. He did things to me."

"It's OK, Terra," Beast Boy said, "We won't let him near you."

"Agreed, little lady," Edward said, "You're part of the Titans now. Slade comes near you, he's going down. He also knows that there's a more powerful member of the Titans as well. I won't speak for Rae, but, I'll gladly kick his booty."

"Same goes for me," the empath said, "We failed you before. It's not happening again."

"How can you be sure?" Terra asked.

"Because you have friends who love you," Edward said, "None love you more than Garfield here. You think he wouldn't fight to the death to protect you? I **know** he would. Like I fought Malchior to protect Rae, he'll defend you."

She hiccuped as she started to slowly calm down. Her hair gradually fell into its usual golden locks.

By then, Robin and Cyborg had arrived to see the scene…actually, they had shown up shortly after Edward's quick conversation via the link, only Raven had motioned for them to stay silent.

Robin's face was pale as he realized that Terra discovered the truth about Slade and how Beast Boy, Edward and Raven all promised to keep Slade away. Robin knew better. Slade would make every attempt possible to re-secure his former apprentice. That made him especially dangerous.

Then again, he had seen how dangerous the dragon on the team could be when he was protecting Raven, so, protecting another team member, Robin could possibly predict what would happen.

For the first time, Robin actually had a twinge of sympathy for Slade cause his reappearance would result in him getting hurt…then, Robin crushed that feeling flat.

Cyborg didn't look so good, either, for that matter. He was sick to his stomach with utter disgust. He didn't know the reason why Terra was howling in anguish, but, figured it out quickly. He grabbed his fearless leader in one hand and Raven in the other. He was gentle about it, lest Raven accidentally call Edward.

"We need to talk, privately," he said. His tone left no room for discussion.

**[Cyborg's room]**

"Yo, Robin," he said, "What the hell is going on in there? Terra's wailing something fierce and I don't know if you felt it, but, I did: The Tower was shaking a little bit."

"Terra just found out Slade's alive," Robin said.

"Ya mean ya didn't tell her when we rescued her?" Cyborg said.

"Pin that on me," Raven said quietly, "I advised Edward to not tell Terra that. You can see why. She wasn't ready."

"When do you think she would have been ready? When Trigon returned?" Cyborg said sarcastically.

"Cyborg," Robin said.

"Don't go there, man!" Cyborg said, "We've known for how long that Slade's been back and we kept it from Terra."

"Cyborg," Raven said, "You weren't in Terra's mind. Edward and I were. It took a lot of talking and showing that we care for her to even come out that day. Her psyche had been shredded worse than mine, for Azar's sake. Slade's treatment of her, our rejection of her and the time in stone almost destroyed her."

"What do you think's happening now?" Cyborg said.

"She's hurting, but, she's stronger than she gives herself credit," Robin said. Raven nodded in agreement.

"You're not talking to Edward, right?" Cyborg said.

"No," Raven said coldly, "He's blocking everything now. He has to or her anger/hurt will trigger his anger. He'd tear Jump City apart looking for Slade. He's protecting everyone by shutting off access. The emotional tidal wave knocked both of us backwards. He'll let me know when it's safe to use the link again."

"Sorry, I had to be sure," Cyborg said, "This link is a good thing, Raven. I might not understand it fully, but, I know that it's a good thing. I'm worried about Terra. Even before she was petrified, I knew something was wrong. And, the last few weeks, since the kids were here, she's been off her game."

"We all are worried, Cy," Robin said, "Terra hasn't even been talking much with Beast Boy. Starfire tried and couldn't get her to talk either."

Starfire, luckily for her, was out getting some items from the "mall of shopping" or they'd be dealing with her wrath as well. She was overly sensitive to the people around her and the troubles now, she'd internalize for weeks.

Cyborg sighed and wondered aloud, "How are we going to help this time?"

"I don't know," Robin said, "I just don't know."


	2. Edward gets background info on Terra

**Chapter 2  
>[An hour later]<strong>

Terra had finally calmed down to the point Edward was able to drop his mental shields and that meant fully reopening the link to his girlfriend. He had risked it earlier and almost paid for it dearly.

Beast Boy looked ready to kill, though. He wasn't an empath or a telepath, but, even he felt her pain.

Terra looked at Edward, who handed her yet another tissue.

"You'll help me find him, won't you?" she asked in a small voice.

Edward nodded, "Of course, Terra."

"Thank you," she said, closing her eyes. Within a minute, Beast Boy said, "She's sleeping finally."

"You going to be OK?" Edward asked.

"No," Beast Boy said, "Not until her nightmare is finally behind her. I don't know what really happened when she was working for Slade, but, if it's hurting this much…It had to be bad."

"Gar…I'm sorry," Edward said.

"For what?" Beast Boy said. It was serious enough for Edward to use his real name.

"For this," Edward said, "I was advised not to let her find out so soon after she was rescued. This is why."

"She had to find out eventually, Edward," Beast Boy said, "Best she find out now instead of during a mission."

Edward nodded and said, "True."

Raven had come back in after the long talk with Robin and Cyborg. She saw Edward and Beast Boy there. As she walked around to the other side of the couch, she saw Terra there.

"Wore herself out, I see," she said quietly.

"Yeah," Beast Boy said.

"I'll get her a pillow and a blanket," Edward said, "Rae, would you..?"

"Go, I'll sit here," Raven replied.

Edward slowly got up and headed for the exit. Raven sat down and asked, "How is she?"

"Not good," Beast Boy said sadly, "She's in so much pain. She doesn't fully grasp what happened or why Slade's back from the dead."

Raven sighed, "Damn reporter."

"What reporter?" Beast Boy asked.

"There was a news report," Edward said, coming back into the room with one of his personal pillows and blankets, "Slade's mark was found on the side of a building. Terra saw that and knew Slade's alive. Slade also knows she's here as the reporter also had footage of the fight with Malchior. Someone with a video camera recorded the fight. They probably are laughing all the way to the bank, too.

"Let's move to another room, though."

Raven gently levitated Terra off of Beast Boy and soon as he stood up, Terra was placed on the couch. Edward placed the pillow under her head as Beast Boy put the blanket on her. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

They moved to Edward's room to continue the conversation.

"Can't we sue the person?" Beast Boy asked.

"Nope. Freedom of the Press comes into play here," Edward said, shrugging, "We should be glad of that, though. Had this happened 250 years or more ago, there would not have been a fight. People back then would have killed everyone on the team as witches, especially you, Raven."

Beast Boy's ears drooped hearing that.

"What we can do it give her our love and support right now. That will be the best thing for her," Raven said.

"She going to want payback," Edward predicted, "I can understand that. But, we're heroes. We don't seek vengeance. And, this could be seen as such."

"What about Malchior?" Beast Boy asked, "Wasn't killing him an act of revenge?"

"Partially," Edward relented, "He had hurt Raven badly. First, he broke her heart. You can see that aspect cause you were there…you helped her in a way that she acknowledged with one of her rare hugs, right? Then, he invaded her mind and tried to destroy her from the inside out. How he got into Nevermore, we'll never know, unless he got in the same way you, Cyborg and I get in. But, that doesn't answer why he didn't emerge outside the Tower.

"Regardless, this was also a matter of protecting Raven. Not to take away from you, dear, as I know you can protect yourself very well. Sometimes, though, even you have to admit you need help, right.

"Something else to remember: I allowed Terra to finish Malchior off for a reason. Her and I didn't know the entire story behind Malchior and Rae. We were the two Titans NOT influenced by vengeance…For me, it was protection of Raven. For Terra, I accepted that as payment of a life debt."

"Right," she said, "I couldn't even get off a distress call through our link, but, I'm glad that you knew there was a major problem and rushed to help. I had to accept the help as I couldn't fight him off."

She leaned over and kissed Edward on the cheek, "Thank you for doing that."

Edward blushed, "You're welcome."

He continued, "I know from experience that there's a fine line between protecting and outright revenge. I'm worried that our geomancer friend will go right into revenge. Sadly, I don't know the entire story outside what was in the media at the time."

"It was bad," Beast Boy said.

"Agreed," Raven said, "We had taken Terra in a few years ago when she was battling a huge scorpion…"

**[Flashback]  
>[Author's note: From "Terra"]<strong>

The Teen Titans had been alerted to a giant scorpion chasing a teenager and went to assist the girl.

Turned out that when then got there, she was cornered and as Robin directed the team to attack, the girl's eyes started to glow along with her hands.

A natural land bridge ripped itself away from the canyon walls and with a yell, the girl dropped the bridge onto the scorpion, killing it.

The team realized that the girl led the creature into a trap.

She raised a temporary pillar of rock to where the team was still in awe of what they saw.

She jumped from the pillar to the ledge. The pillar crumbled a moment later.

Robin broke out of his trance and approached the girl.

"I'm Robin. We're the…" he said, holding out his hand.

She opted for a fist bump, "Teen Titans! Rock on! It's cool to meet you guys! I'm Terra and you're Cyborg, Raven, Starfire and … "

She pointed to each one in turn and when she got to Beast Boy, he said "Boy Beast! Uh, I mean Bass Boot…No!"

"Beast Boy?" she said with a giggle. That elicited a scream and then a turtle spinning in mid-air.

"Dude! He's hilarious!" she said laughing.

He poked his head out of the shell and said, "Hilarious? Me? Really?"

Terra winked at Beast Boy who promptly returned to human form and passed out. Cyborg goes to catch him and pulls his arms away at last possible moment. Beast Boy hits the dirt for a moment than wakes up.

Starfire, meanwhile had floated to Terra and said, "Curiosity abounds." Then in rapid fire, she said, "Where do you come from? How did you get here? What is your favorite color? And, do you wish to be my friend?"

Terra, taken aback by the questions, said, "Earth, walked, red and sure."

Starfire said, "Hello, new friend!". She grabbed Terra into a Starfire bear-hug. That meant Terra would have to straighten out a few joints when Starfire released her.

"How's it going?" Terra asked, clearly being strangled. Starfire released her and, well, Terra spent the next few moments putting a few joints back and massaged a few newly formed bruises. (Edward, listening to this, winced, knowing when Starfire hugged him, he would end up massaging in the same places for a few moments while they healed.)

Well, the team found out that Terra was camping out in a "lonely cave of darkness" as Starfire said. In fact, the team insisted that she stay for a night. Considering that Starfire was dragging Terra prompted Terra to agree to the plan.

Little did the Teen Titans know…Terra was extremely hungry. She literally cleaned out the fridge while the team stood there, jaws on the floor.

Starfire came over and asked if Terra would try her homemade glorg.

The others yelled "NO!", but, it was too late, Terra devoured the gelatin, licked the plate and said, "Tastes like sushi mixed with ice cream. Got any more?"

Starfire was giddy as she went off to cultivate the fungus. (Edward had his own thoughts on glorg taste, but, generally agreed with Terra's assessment.)

Having eaten the team out of house and home, she asked where the tub was.

30 minutes later, the tub looked like a war zone with mud everywhere.

Cyborg said, "Whoa! Mud bath!"

Terra quipped, "Sorry…Guess I was due for a rinse."

Robin looked in and made a face with his tongue sticking out. Raven looked quite angry at the mess and the bad joke…Then again, the empath didn't find much humor.

Terra washed out her clothes in the sink and called it a night, falling asleep on the couch.

The team realized that Terra was well and truly homeless and decided to offer her a permanent place at the Tower. Robin decided to ask her to train with the team the following morning. He had concerns over her abilities and wanted to see how she did.

Terra overheard that and grew concerned. She knew she barely had control over her powers and decided to leave the next day.

She went down to the rocky side of the island and was using her powers to skip stones across the surface of the water.

Beast Boy joined her and sat down, "So I'm guessing the couch was too lumpy?"

He picks up a stone and lets it fly. Instead of skipping, it merely splashes down and sinks. Terra laughed and floated another stone into Beast Boy's hand. This time, the throw was perfect and it skipped several times.

After making several funny faces at each other, Terra told Beast Boy she was leaving in the morning, but, Beast Boy convinced her to stay. Beast Boy finds out the "hard way" that she can't fully control her abilities as he's accidentally dumped off the small boulder he was sitting on. It splashed a lot of water on him and after spitting out the sea water promised not to reveal it to anyone else (mainly cause Terra was angry at herself, though.)

The training session went well and it was revealed that Terra, despite her marginal control over her powers (and destroying a fair amount of the course in the process) set the course record that stood until Edward broke it years later.

Beast Boy encouraged her throughout the training session and when she finally made it through, she grabbed him into a hug, whispering, "You said I could do it and you were right!"

Robin was about to offer her a place on the team when everyone's alert indicators started flashing.

That's when Terra ended up face-to-face with Slade for the first time, and confirmed to Robin that she wasn't able to control her powers. Terra had gotten enraged at Slade and caused an underground tornado as her abilities went totally out of her control.

Beast Boy arrived shortly after Slade retreated as a mole and went under the whirlwind. He returned to his human form and was able to grab onto her.

She realized it was Beast Boy and started crying.

"I'm here, Terra," he said. She calmed down and was able to get her powers back under control. They landed gently as she wept.

After they returned to the Tower, she was offered a place on the team and Robin goofed and mentioned she didn't have control, but, the team would help her. She misunderstood, due to Slade planting a seed of doubt in her mind, and left…

**[Back to the present]**

Edward took that all in and started pacing.

"Looking at this from the outsider view," he said, "Terra already had a rough life. I knew about the unexplained earthquakes in areas of the country where they shouldn't have been possible.

"Her explanation of why she was outside Jump City bears that out. I'm not sure why folks suspected Terra as the cause of those tremors, though. I'm going to have to do some digging to see why. Regardless, she apparently craved something that we take for granted…friendship, acceptance, and trust. And, that was undermined by Slade."

"What will we do if she wants payback?" Beast Boy said.

"Weren't you listening?" Raven said, "We support her. We got her back, period."

Beast Boy was properly chastened then because Edward had said that earlier.

"I'm with Raven here," Edward said, "Terra deserves a chance to find closure and if that means beating Slade to a pulp, it's going to suck to be him."

"There's something else, Edward," Raven said, "One of the side effects of my father restoring him to life is he's got something in common with you."

"Don't tell me…" Edward said, actually dreading the answer.

"He's immortal," Raven said.

"Crap!" Edward said, "Means that even if he's beaten to a bloody pulp, he can regenerate. Depending on how bad he's injured, though, depends on how long it will take to recover."

"I know," Raven said, "I've seen you recovering in seconds from scratches and scrapes up to several minutes from an otherwise fatal injury."

"It usually makes up to 5 minutes to repair broken bones, as well," Edward said, "But, the problem here is what kind of damage will Slade take before he's down for a while?"

"We don't know," Raven replied, "This is the first time he's been even hinted at for since he sided with us to defeat my father."

"Common enemy?" Edward asked.

"Sort of," Raven said, "He petrified the population and the team barely defeated him."

"When was this, dear?" Edward asked.

"About two years ago," she replied sadly.

Edward strained to recall that time and actually couldn't.

"Odd," he said after a moment, "I don't recall that."

"No one does except us," Raven said, "It's better this way, trust me."

"That right there isn't cool," Edward said, "But, as your father is already gone, nothing to do there. I'll thank Slade for helping save the planet, but, with respect to Beast Boy…Terra deserves payback. I'm in."

He held out a hand. Both Raven and Beast Boy put their hands on top of his.

"I hope the others will want to help out," Edward said.

"Cyborg, Starfire and Robin will help," Raven reassured her boyfriend.

Raven looked deep in thought for a moment and said, "Terra's waking up, I think."

Beast Boy went out to check.

"We have to bring the others in," Edward said.

"Certainly," Raven replied, "We can't have this any other way."

Raven went to get Robin and Cyborg. While she was getting them, she ran into Starfire and said, "Meet in Edward's room, please, Star. Something bad happened while you were gone."

"What happened, sister Raven?" Starfire asked.

"We'll tell you there," Raven said.

"All right," Starfire said, "I'll meet you in friend Edward's room."

She floated away.

A few minutes later, Cyborg, Robin and Raven were returning to Edward's room.

"Hi, again," Edward said, "Looks like Starfire needs to know what happened. Who gets to tell her?"

Robin sighed, "I will.

"Starfire, Terra knows Slade's alive. She isn't taking the news very well. In fact, she's having a meltdown. We didn't want Terra to know for a while yet."

Starfire looked shocked, "Tell me, how did friend Terra find out?"

"One of the local TV stations ran a report about Slade's symbol being found on a building. She must have seen it," Edward said.

"She did," Beast Boy said as he and Terra came into the room. She looked terrible, eyes swollen, nose red, etc.

They sat down and she leaned on Beast Boy.

Starfire went to give her a hug and Robin said, "Easy, Starfire."

Starfire backed down, but, Terra reached out to the Tamaranian girl and hugged her instead. Starfire reached up and hugged her back…very gently this time.

They saw the tears forming in Terra's eyes as Starfire held her.

"I'm here, friend Terra," Starfire said gently, "The Slade won't bother you here."

"How can you be sure, Starfire?" Terra asked.

"Because I won't let him!" Starfire said forcefully. She meant every word of that.

"None of us will, Terra," Robin said, "The Teen Titans have your back this time."

The team gathered around in a group hug, even the reclusive Raven. That show of strength was what Terra needed to see and feel for herself. She still had bouts of low self-esteem at times, but, this was different.

Terra was slowly turning her sense of panic into a resolve that would test her and the team…


	3. Edward and Terra have a talk

**{Short Author's Dedication: I am dedicating the rest of this story to the memory of Dragonriders of Pern author Anne McCaffrey. Sadly, she passed away on 11/21/2011 from a major stroke. Several of Edward's abilities, I lifted from her Dragonriders series, namely his teleportation skills/Time teleport and the telepathic link established between Edward and Raven. I had the honor when I was trying to develop Edward in the late 90s (I was working on an original manuscript before converting Edward to the web) to engage in a short series of emails as I respected her work enough I asked her blessing to use a couple of terms. If memory serves, I asked her about the usage of "Dragonet" – Edward's shoulder-sized version, she didn't mind that as she borrowed that from another writer, but, asked me very nicely to use a different term than **_**"between**_**" – teleporting, that request is honored to this day. May she Rest in Peace.}**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<br>[A day later]**

Edward was doing some digging in the Titans mainframe as well as other sources for more details on Slade. Luckily, Robin released the lockouts for the purpose of letting Edward study their enemy.

Edward was getting an education on Slade very quickly as Robin had compiled, in his obsession, a lot of information. How the man acted, his fighting style, pretty much everything Robin learned was there.

Edward was also making notes, something he rarely needed to do, but, there was so much information that he needs to write things down. Edward had newspaper articles on one computer screen, videos from YouTube on the middle screen and database files on the third screen.

He was standing up and allowing himself a break when there was a knock on the door.

"Come on in, it's open!" he called.

The door opened to reveal Terra there. She went in and said, "Got some time?"

"For family, I'll make the time," he said, "Please, pull up a chair. Would you like anything?"

"Got some Coke?" she asked.

"Of course," he said, going to the fridge and pulling out a couple of bottles. He loosened the tops and returned to where Terra was sitting.

He handed her a bottle and sat down across from her. Both took a drink of the cold liquid.

Edward was studying Terra's body language and it was telling him a few things. That she had spent a rough night was obvious. Her face was swollen, nose red from being blown a lot. She looked resigned to what she learned. Edward also detected some guilt there.

"Thanks for the drink," she said. Edward smiled, "You're welcome, Terra."

"Can we talk without the others knowing, especially Beast Boy?" she asked.

"Sure thing," Edward said, "What is said here, stays here unless you say otherwise."

"You swear?" she asked.

"Got a Bible?" Edward said, "You got my word, little lady. That's something I don't take lightly."

Terra smiled softly, "That'll do."

"First," Edward said, "How are you doing? Looks like you had a rough night."

"I didn't sleep at all," she said with a sigh, "Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was Slade's mask or sign.

"I can't believe he's alive, though. That's the scary part."

"Well," Edward said, "From what I've been reading the last few hours, that's certainly true. But, you worked for Slade for a while as his apprentice. That's common knowledge. You know more about him than anyone on the team, save for Robin."

"Yeah," she said, "I did. He offered me a way to control my powers, but, in exchange, I had to promise to serve him, follow every order he gave me and destroy the Titans."

"And you did that willingly, correct?" Edward asked.

"I did," she replied, "He planted doubt in my mind about Beast Boy and the rest of the team when I was first here. I didn't stop to let Robin explain that he'd figured out my powers were uncontrollable."

"Slade's not the most trustworthy person," Edward noted, "But, that's pretty obvious.

"Tell me what you can, Terra. I won't judge you on what you did, no matter what you feel comfortable telling me."

She sipped her drink and said, "You sure you want to hear this?"

"I'm sure," Edward said, "I need to know."

Terra was reassured by what Edward said. He had not been known to lie and from what the geomancer could tell about her draconic friend, he took giving his word seriously.

She spent the next couple of hours relating what had happened when she wasn't with the team and had fallen into Slade's camp. She admitted that she did so of her free will as well.

A couple of times Edward stopped her narrative to ask for some clarifications on what she was saying, and also got her some additional Coke.

When she got to when she betrayed the team to Slade, she stopped. Edward didn't need any special abilities to see that she was having a hard time with this part of her story.

"Take some time, Terra," he said gently, "Do you want to take a break?"

"No," she said, "I'm coming to the part where I did something that I can never take back or regain. This is the part that you can't tell anyone, especially Beast…Garfield."

He gently took her hands, "Terra, whatever this is, you already have my word that it doesn't leave this room."

"What about Raven?" she asked.

"Raven respects that there are some things that I have 'locked away' in more private areas of my mind. We agreed when we discovered the link that, you were instrumental in forming, we could keep some things secret. I won't enter her Nevermore without her consent unless it's an emergency. She won't enter my mind either unless there's a problem. She's not even eavesdropping right now. I can't feel her in the back of my mind except for the very faint presence we typically have," Edward explained.

Terra took a deep breath and said, "After I left the team to become Slade's apprentice…I lost my virginity to Slade. We slept together several times."

A tear fell then. Edward knew what that little sentence cost Terra. He pulled Terra into his arms once more.

"I can see why you don't want to tell him," Edward said, "He'd be hurt again. But, if your relationship with him continues, he's going to find out the first time you and he have sex. It's not hard for a man to determine if his girl's on her first rodeo or if she's been around the block a few times. You'll have to tell him someday and, Terra, I know throughout history that it's usually better to let the other partner know this."

"I can't tell him," she said softly, "I've already hurt him so much and he's already taken me back twice. The look in his eyes when I had to send him away will haunt me for a long time. He knew what I had to do.

"Edward, I knew I would most likely be turned to stone or covered in lava. Either way, I was not supposed to live. I still don't know how you even detected any life signs or why you brought me back."

Edward said, "I saw your plaque for one, and I sensed the grief that still lingered with the entire team. Raven had told me that she tried everything possible and even her spells were useless.

"It took an act of extreme love and forgiveness to turn stone to flesh."

Terra pulled away and smiled despite her inner pain. She said, "I'll tell him after this is done."

Edward said, "Time for a break. The guys will be wanting dinner. I know you have to be hungry as well. I know you haven't been eating much lately."

She sighed, "I'll try to eat something."

"Terra," Edward said, "You're a very bright young woman. You know that even if you're not that hungry, your powers have given you an above average metabolism. If you can stomach glorg and other dishes Starfire tries to make for the team, well, that impresses even me."

Terra laughed, "No kidding! You're the only other one that likes her dishes."

Edward smiled, "You laughing is a good sign, kid. Let's go before the others get too worried."

**[90 minutes later]**

Edward had finished preparing lunch for the team and as it was Robin's turn at the dishes, he headed back to his room for a while. Terra was waiting for him.

"You want to continue?" he asked her.

"I have to or I might lose the courage to continue," she said.

"Well, come on in, then," he said kindly.

They went in and sat down.

"There's more to this," she said sadly, "After I defeated the team and taking over the city, they returned in force. This time, they weren't hampered by any thoughts of mercy.

"They kicked my rear, Edward. But, Slade ordered me to continue to try to fight. By then, though, I was wearing a suit that attached to my nervous system. That was the suit that stayed stone, by the way.

"What I didn't know, though, was that Slade had rigged it to completely control me.

"That's not all, though. The Titans forced me to retreat to what I thought was the safety of Slade's lair. It was a mistake."

Edward asked, "Why was that?"

She choked on the memory, "He beat me worse than the Titans did! When he was done, I could barely stand and when I told him I was leaving, I discovered that the damn armor couldn't be removed.

"He activated a switch on his wrist, then, all I felt was blazing pain because he had decided that since I was going to leave, he would control my every move…and my powers.

"Beast Boy showed up, looking for a fight. I tried to resist, but, Slade merely continued his control of me. He used my powers to form a slab of stone into a sharp spear, I guess you'd call it. Beast Boy was trapped by then.

"The others showed up and Raven made it clear…If I tried to continue, she'd have no qualms about killing me. Everyone else was pleading with me as well.

"I fought as hard as I could and was able to turn the tables on Slade. I don't know how, but, I was able to regain control over my body. He thought he was going to kill me, but…"

"That's when you struck back and your powers triggered the volcano," Edward finished as he heard Terra's voice cracking again.

"Yeah," she said, "the team was beating a hasty retreat. I stayed behind. That was the last thing I remember until you came along."

Edward handed her a box of Kleenex.

"I hate being weak like this," she said bitterly.

Edward gently raised Terra's head up and said, "Listen to me, Terra. You're not weak, not anymore. You're one of the strongest people I know right now."

"Don't patronize me!" she said.

"I'm not. I'll tell you why," he said, then, starting ticking off the reasons on his fingers.

"One, you stood up to Slade.

"Two, you realized what you were doing was wrong and worked to free yourself from the problem.

"Three, you were able to fight off that device's control and fought through the pain.

"Four, you realized that Slade was using you for his own gains and when you realized that, you opted to leave him at great risk to yourself.

"Five, the only way you could have defeated that device was your love for the Titans, especially Beast Boy. You admitted that he was the best friend you ever had.

"Six, you showed your love for the team because you were willing to lay down your life for them and you technically did just that. I might be 3,000 or so years old, but, not even I have the answers here. Someone upstairs loves you enough to have allowed you to live to today. You're the first person I know that's come back from being turned to stone."

Terra thought about that for several long moments before saying, "I need time to think about my next move. I know that if Slade was watching that newscast, he knows that I'm here.

"But, Edward, I want payback for everything he did to me. I know I initially was willing to work for the man, but, he hurt me in ways that I can't just forgive."

"Terra, can I ask you a highly personal question?" Edward asked.

"I guess so," she replied.

"When you slept with him, was that also done willingly?" he asked, "Apologies for being this blunt, and, if you don't want to answer, I'll respect that."

Terra considered her reply, "At first, I thought it was willingly. I wanted to feel loved and accepted. He had taught me how to control my powers and felt he earned what I gave him.

"Now, I feel dirty. He used me, Edward! I can't forgive that, either. How can I? I let him turn me against my friends here. They gave me a home, accepted me immediately and even offered to help me. But, I'm so stupid sometimes…I didn't let them help me.

"I feel that I'm the one they have to rescue time and time again. Either from Slade or from myself…or even from the fate I earned. Why?"

Edward sighed, "Why do we keep doing that?"

"Why did you guys rescue me from stone?" she asked quietly.

"Because you deserved it, Terra," Edward said, "The team had already forgiven you. I didn't have any prejudices against you. I never will. Robin once told Raven that people deserve another chance. He wanted to help you, despite your crimes against the city and the citizens. It was a sense of loyalty and friendship. Your plaque calls you a Teen Titan and a true friend. Nothing said about you betraying the team. It was a simple statement that said they still considered you a member of the team and a friend. You earned it.

"Trust me. We have your back, now more than ever. You have six friends…no, let me rephrase that: You have 2 sisters and 4 brothers. I don't want to be considered a father figure unless everyone agrees to that one. We're the family you need. We love you for who you are, insecurities and all. Forgive me, but, even I have an unconditional love for you. Yes, Raven's my girlfriend, as you are Garfield's. Raven understands that I do harbor unconditional love for the entire team…"

He didn't finish his thought as he was seized in a monster hug from Terra. He chuckled to himself as he returned it. Terra needed to hear that badly.

"Thank you so much!" she said, "I love you guys as well. I wish I could go back and fix the wrongs, but, I know I can't."

"Come on, Terra," Edward chided gently, "You already have. Get that through that pretty blonde head of yours, all right? Focus on what the future holds. We're going to kick Slade's ass into the next century because of his treatment of you. This nightmare will end for you, I give you my word on that. The entire team is backing you up, no matter what."

Terra smiled and gave Edward a quick peck on the cheek.

"Don't let Raven see you doing that…She's liable to get jealous," Edward said with a chuckle.

"She was jealous of me for a long time," Terra said, "I do wonder what changed."

"She realized that she couldn't compete with you over Beast Boy's heart. Rae and I talked about it the day we rescued you. Actually, Beast Boy talked to me before Raven did. He had to make a choice between the two of you. One would get the 'sister' role, one got his heart. We know what happened there," Edward replied.

"Playing a matchmaker, huh?" Terra jibed.

Edward blushed, "Not intentionally. I had no idea at the time Rae and I would be a couple, nor even be telepathically linked. That was a side effect of rescuing you. But, we adapted quickly to the situation and realized that we fit each other's needs. I'm more outgoing, she's still somewhat introverted, for example."

Deep down, Edward felt that Terra had turned the corner. They had spent the better part of 4 hours (not including lunch) talking.

"What do you want to do next?" he asked her.

"Take a nap, for one," she replied, "Then, I want to talk to the team about options. I know I shouldn't take Slade on solo. He still has a considerable amount of Slade-bots to protect him."

Edward nodded, "Smart move. We're a team and, thank you for remembering that."

"You're welcome," she said, standing up. They walked to the door and Terra headed off to her room.

Edward sat down and started mentally processing everything Terra told him. It bothered him to no end that Terra was treated so badly.

[Hi, Edward,] Raven said through the link, [Been busy, I see.]

[Yeah, Terra needed to talk. She swore me to secrecy though, Rae,] he replied.

[Not a problem,] the empath said, [I figured she'd want to talk to you. You're the most neutral person on the team right now for her.]

[Thanks for not eavesdropping,] he said, sending a wave of gratitude as well.

[You're welcome,] she said.

Edward smiled as he closed his eyes for a moment. He was content for the time being, but, he knew that in the next few days, something major was going to happen.

* * *

><p>Sorry if these "conversation" chapters are not the action folks are waiting for. These are needed to allow Edward to know the backstory. Originally, this was going to be a recap of the Terra based episodes from the series, but, on reconsideration, I felt the way this chapter went was a bit better. Most TT cartoon fans are already aware of Terra's history - sans Terra "doing it" with Slade. Personally, I don't like the thought that she'd give it up to him...but, I ran with it a little bit anyway.<p>

Reviews welcome, of course ;)


	4. Initial battle, plans, and bomb threat!

**Chapter 4  
>[A week later]<strong>

Things had settled down within the Tower finally. Terra had come to terms with Slade being alive after several days. The talk with Edward had helped her immensely, but, she hadn't told Beast Boy that she slept with Slade.

The team had decided to check out that building where Slade's logo was found. Or more precisely, Robin tasked Cyborg, Raven and Edward with the task. Cyborg drove the T-Car to the location with Edward in the passenger side and Raven behind Edward. Edward offered the seat to his girl, but, she said she felt more comfortable in the back with the extra room.

They arrived at the location in the news reports and Cyborg scanned it.

"Yeah, this is fresh paint," he said, "It's been here since, well, before that news report. Question is: Who put it here and why?"

A deep voice said, "Well, I wanted to draw you out, Titans."

"Slade," Cyborg said.

"What do you want?" Raven snarled.

"What, no friendly greeting? Not after I helped get rid of Trigon?" he said.

"Like Robin said," Cyborg said, "That changed nothing between the team and you."

Edward was listening to the exchange and narrowed down where the voice was coming from.

"Oh, and you have a new friend?" Slade said.

"You mean a new team mate?" Edward said.

"From what I hear, you have another member. One who swore her loyalty to serve me," he said, "One who I intend to pay back for her disloyalty."

"Over our dead bodies!" Cyborg yelled.

"My dear Cyborg," Slade taunted, "There's only three of you and, well, my robots outnumber you 30 to 1."

Edward rolled his eyes, "Sure."

As Edward watched, at least 50 Slade-bots emerged from the building.

Edward smiled ferally as the robots charged. He was itching for a good fight and he didn't have to worry about holding back. Then again, neither did Raven and Cyborg.

[Ready, dear?] He asked through the link.

[Of course,] Raven replied.

[Back-to-back,] he suggested.

She moved to cover his back.

He moved to cover hers.

Cyborg saw that and raised his human eyebrow and joined them. His sonic cannon was active, Raven's powers were active and Edward was ready to tear some Slade-bots apart.

The Slade-bots moved in.

"Let's rock," Edward said.

"Titans, GO!" Cyborg shouted. His sonic cannon fired, taking down several bots for a moment.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven said. Her powers flew forth and slammed into the closest ones, blasting them apart.

"Come get some," Edward said as several bots got close. Edward's fist connected with one, sending it flying backwards. It landed in the midst of several others, knocking them down. They got up, not the worse for wear.

Edward grabbed the nearest one and with a hard yank, pulled the arm off. There was a shower of sparks from the socket. Edward then hit the bot with a hard uppercut, ripping the machine's head off. It collapsed and smoked heavily.

Cyborg's sonic cannon was doling out heavy damage as well. So was Raven's powers.

"There's plenty more for each of us," Cyborg said, "Split up."

Edward changed into a gorilla and let his now ham sized fists fly. More bots went down. But, Edward was concerned. They seemed to be replaced as others went down.

[This could be a distraction move,] he told Raven.

[You think?] she said, [We can't even get a second to warn the Tower.]

[I can't leave you and Cy alone. There's too many,] Edward replied.

Raven blasted another five bots before replying, [I'll go. You and Cyborg can handle these things for a few minutes, right?]

[This is one of my toughest fights, but, yeah. We can handle them. Warn the others,] he said.

Raven went to her soul self and teleported away.

"Yo! Where's she going?" Cyborg called out.

"To warn the rest of the team!" Edward said after a quick change to mini-dragon, "I have a feeling that this is meant to distract us from protecting Terra. She'll be back."

"I hope you're right about that, dawg!" Cyborg hollered back.

The fight continued on. Edward didn't want to waste his breath weapons, yet. He cleared a path with his tail and crushed several more in his teeth, absorbing the electric shocks in the process. One of Edward's abilities was to absorb electricity, or better yet, lightning. It would give an extra wallop to his lightning breath.

"Blech!" Edward said.

"Leaves a bad taste in your mouth?" Cyborg quipped.

Edward chuckled, "You can say that."

Edward had finished off several others when Raven returned to the fight, this time bringing the rest of the team, including Terra.

Beast Boy immediately formed a rhino and charged, knocking down or crushing several Slade-bots in the process.

Starfire, already in the air, let loose with her eyebeams and Starbolts, hitting as many as she could.

Robin was packing serious firepower as several explosive disks landed in the midst of other robots, blasting them apart.

Terra, eyes glowing fiercely as well as her hands, levitated a huge slab of concrete and dirt over the heads of several Slade-bots before crushing them flat.

Edward quit holding back and without bothering to light his ridges, spewed out a blast of lightning on the Slade-bots. Those went down, wiring fried beyond repair.

Other bots were superheated with Edward's flame breath. Those shorted out and exploded.

Then Edward returned to human form for some hand-to-hand combat. The Slade-bots obliged Edward. He wasn't overly surprised to have to use more strength to fight the machines, the problem was that they tried charging en masse and came close to triggering Edward's temper. But, then, Edward realized that getting angry would not serve any purpose. So, he stayed calm as he causally tossed Slade-bots into each other.

The fight lasted a while, though. There were a lot of Slade-bots to destroy, but, after another 30 minutes, the final Slade-bot was sparking after being hit by Starfire's eyebeams.

"Boo Yeah!" Cyborg yelled.

"We kicked the butt!" Starfire agreed.

"Sweet!" Edward said, "Good workout!"

That earned him a playful smack from Raven. Edward laughed about it.

"Good work, Titans," Robin said.

"Yes, good work," Slade said. Everyone looked for the man.

Edward took Raven's hand, "Focus," he suggested.

Their combined abilities determined the direction Slade's voice was coming from.

"Come out, Slade!" Terra yelled, "I'm NOT AFRAID OF YOU!"

"Dear child," Slade silkily said, "You're more afraid of what the Titans will do if they knew the truth about you."

Edward raised an eyebrow.

[I'll be back. Keep Slade distracted if you can,] Edward said.

Edward looked at Robin and silently communicated the same thing. Robin, guessing Edward's intention nodded.

Edward slowly retreated from the scene and headed for an ally while the team traded taunts with Slade.

He ducked besides the building where Slade's symbol was and shapeshifted to a bird and took to the air.

Sure enough…Slade was watching from the rooftop of one of the nearby buildings. Edward would have smiled, but, as he landed, Slade called down, "Where's your other new friend?"

Edward shapeshifted back to human and gliding close to Slade said, "Right here, asswipe."

Slade said, "There you are. Protecting my apprentice, I see."

"Gee," Edward replied, "According to Terra, she quit after you decided to beat the crap out of her. She can obviously protect herself very well, but, if you think you're going to reclaim her, you have to get through me and the other Titans first."

"The other Titans don't know where to find me," Slade said.

"Slade, I don't have to say a word," Edward said.

"Prefer to do your talking another way?" Slade said.

"You could say that," Edward said, "Considering your little machines gave me a nice workout, sure.

"Just remember though. I'm not the one you have to worry about. It's a blond geomancer I consider my little sister who you hurt badly."

Slade said, "She promised to serve me, and, as I told her, I intend to make her keep that promise."

"Not happening, Slade," Edward said, "While I applaud you helping the Titans with Trigon a few years ago, and, I will offer sincere thanks for helping allow Raven to be open with her emotions…It doesn't change anything between you and the rest of the team. You're a criminal, and, you will be taken down…or taken out. Terra would rather see you gone for good, and, I agree with her. Conversation's over."

"As you wish," Slade said. He charged Edward, who dodged the roundhouse kick easily and struck back, hitting Slade in the back of the knee, knocking him down.

Slade attempted to do a leg sweep to see Edward jump over it. Slade jumped up and threw a punch that was blocked. Edward countered with an attack of his own, that Slade blocked.

They traded blows for several minutes, equally matched, it seemed.

"You are quite good," Slade complimented.

Edward nodded, "As are you."

[Rae…Get the team to the top of the two toned brown building, please. I think they will like the results. Keep Terra calm, though, if possible. Thanks, love!] Edward said via the link.

"Why the face, Edward?" Slade said.

"You'll see in a moment, Slade," Edward said.

Sure enough, Raven's soul-self arrived with the team.

The black energy dropped and Robin said, "Slade. I see you've met the newest member of the team."

"Where did you find him, Robin?" Slade said.

"Never mind that, you rat bastard!" Terra snarled, "How did you survive the steaming hot bath I gave you?"

"Ask Robin," Slade said, "He knows the whole story. Or maybe Raven would enlighten you? But, apprentice, don't for…"

"I'M NOT YOU DAMN APPRENTICE! NOT AFTER YOU TREATED ME LIKE CRAP!" Terra yelled, eyes blazing yellow.

"Terra," Raven said gently, "Calm down a little bit."

"You don't know what he did to me!" Terra snarled at Raven, "You don't know how bad he treated me. What he STOLE!"

"Terra," Slade said silkily, "You forget that you did everything of your own free will, including swearing to serve me!"

"Only because YOU led me in those directions," Terra growled, "And you turned me against my friends. You made me believe that Beast Boy would tell the team. He never told them a thing. Getting beaten by you was never part of the deal!"

"Keep telling yourself that, Terra," Slade said.

"That's a lie!" Beast Boy said, "I kept my promises to Terra. And, you're a dead man for manhandling Terra!"

He shapeshifted to a green cheetah and charged Slade. Slade barely managed to get back, only to be blasted by Edward and knocked on the roof.

Slade got up and said, "Impressive."

"Save your compliments, pal," Edward said, "No one's buying them."

Starfire's eyes were glowing a nice bright green but, didn't fire them as they were still on the rooftop.

Slade charged for Terra only to be stopped by Raven's powers.

"The black bird protecting the traitor," Slade noted, "How quaint, but, you see, I will have her back. And, when I do …"

Slade yelped in pain as Edward had heard all he wanted to hear and had shapeshifted to Dragon. Next thing Slade knew he was feeling the sting of his lightning.

Slade's suit protected him for the most part. But, Edward also knew the others wanted their turns, so, Edward said, "I've taken my turn. Who's next?" He was also remembering that he did promise Raven he'd back down and let the team pull their weight as well.

He went to his bird form and flew to the ledge as Robin said, "You heard him…Titans, GO!"

Edward returned to human form to watch the resulting fight. Slade was barely outmatched despite the 6 on 1 odds.

Terra was so close to getting her payback, though, she was tasting it. She levitated a lot of rocks, gravel and dirt and was bombarding him with it.

Robin waited till Terra was done and landed a staggering roundhouse kick to Slade's mask, but, Slade was able to shrug the blow off easily and returned the move. They traded blows for a while before Beast Boy got a hit in as a bull, then switching to a T-Rex and swatted Slade towards Starfire who pounded him into the roof.

As the building wasn't all that high, and seeing that Beast Boy knocked him into the ledge, he said, "Until next time."

He jumped over the ledge and rolled off the awning. Slade was lucky as Cyborg fired his sonic cannon again, just missing by inches

Edward and Beast Boy shapeshifted to locate him. Edward opted for an owl and seeing the advantages, Beast Boy also went to an owl.

But, as luck would have it, Slade disappeared down a manhole.

Neither Edward nor Beast Boy saw where he disappeared to and headed back to where the other Titans had been teleported by Raven to street level.

Terra was fuming, "Did you guys find him?"

"No," Edward said, returning to human form.

"We'll find him, Terra," Robin said.

"I hope so," Terra sighed, "You guys did well."

She did give Edward a hug, but, Beast Boy got the hug and kiss treatment.

"Can you sense him?" Edward asked Raven.

"No," she said sadly (meaning monotone), "His mask interferes with my empathic senses."

Edward sighed, "It was worth a shot?"

"I can't find him on my scanners, either?" Cyborg said.

"Are there any underground tunnels here?" Edward said.

"My scanners are unable to find them. There's a lot of interference for some reason," Cyborg said with a shrug.

"Well, we've won round 1 anyway," Robin said, "We can head home, I'm sure that he'll be back. He's determined to get Terra back.

"But, we're just as determined to get him first."

They headed home to see if there might be any place for such a snake to hide.

**[90 minutes later]**

Edward had baked three large pizzas for the gang to enjoy. He opted for a meat lovers, supreme and a vegetable supreme, giving everyone a choice (well, the vegetable supreme was more for Beast Boy due to the soy based cheese on it.)

As everyone was eating and drinking various drinks with the pizza, it was obvious that there was a sense of defeat, despite beating Slade.

"Guys," Edward said gently, "No sense in beating yourselves up. We'll get Slade. It might not be today or tomorrow, but, we'll get him."

Terra sighed, "I just want this to end. I know in my heart that until he's gone, he won't stop."

"Worrying about it isn't healthy," Raven said, "I should know."

"How's that, Raven?" Edward asked, curious.

"I had to worry daily about my emotions. Before Trigon, I couldn't allow myself to feel anything," she explained, "No love, no anger, no happiness. That's why I felt creepy a lot of times. I still do."

"So," Edward said, "If we had met before Trigon, we couldn't have had this relationship?"

"No," she said, "We would have been friends, I think. You're the most mature person here…No offense."

Edward chuckled, "None taken, Rae."

Beast Boy pouted, "I'm mature, most of the time."

"BB," Edward said, "The reason Raven doesn't like your jokes is, well, they are more geared for kids. Raven was forced to mature much faster, so, she's not going to want your jokes as much as the others. And, I hate to be this blunt, I'm not that fond of them either. I heard of the pun regarding the Brain from others. I think I might have cringed as well."

His ears drooped hearing that, but, Terra said, "For your information, I still think he's hilarious."

Edward replied, "I know he can be very funny at times. Heck, we all use humor to cover up some stuff that's painful. It's his delivery that needs work. I know part of his attempts here is to get a smile out of my girlfriend. Heck, I rarely see her smile visibly. Via the link, though, Raven's got a great sense of humor. I can sense her mirth a lot of times."

"How does the link of the mind work?" Starfire asked, "Does it hurt?"

"Good question, Star," Robin said, "I've been wondering that as well." The others agreed.

Edward replied, "No, it doesn't hurt most of the time. The only times it is painful is when one of us is in distress and that carries through to the other person. Say if Raven were badly hurt, I might feel it through the link. If I'm hurt, she might feel it, but, my pain tolerance is pretty high, so, I can block the signals that might reach Raven. Then again, if either of us is that badly hurt, the other should show the same symptoms."

"Can you feel the other's emotions?" Cyborg asked.

"Definitely," Raven groused, "I can feel when Edward's feeling happy, sad, angry, etc."

"Raven's emotions are different than most everyone else's. They have evolved to represent a person. There's been several times when Raven's guard is down and her emotions borrow the link to talk. It doesn't happen very often, though," Edward said.

The team continued eating as Edward said, "I'm pondering ways to draw Slade out and lead him into a trap."

"How?" Terra said, "He's pretty slick when it comes to traps."

"We know," Robin said wistfully.

Edward shapeshifted to make a copy of Terra.

"What's shaking, Terra?" he asked in her voice.

Terra's mouth dropped as she saw "herself" sitting there talking in her own voice.

"Rock on!" she said a moment later, "I love it."

Edward went back to his male form.

"Only one problem," Raven said, "You can look and sound like Terra. You don't have her powers, though. Slade wouldn't be fooled for an instant."

Edward said, "Not unless there's a way to mimic her powers or even have her powers available to me for a short time."

"I can make a holographic ring to allow the real Terra to hide in plain sight and all Edward would have to do is let Terra know what is going on," Cyborg said.

"Well," Robin said, "Terra would have to stay calm if this is what we're going to do. Edward's cover depends on that."

"If my staying calm gets me to my goal, I can do that," she said, "I still need closure, and I can't throw it away over getting angry."

Edward smiled, "I'm holding you to that, my dear."

They talked over possible plans and how to carry them out. By the time Robin called a halt to the planning for the evening, it was close to 11 PM and time for the late news.

They went over to the huge TV and turned it on.

The anchor said, "Tonight's top story: At about 9 PM this evening, a video tape was delivered to the station via messenger. The video is of Slade Wilson and we've decided that in the public interest that this needs to be aired.

"We will advise you that this video may be very disturbing to watch."

At that, the view was replaced with a video tape, made that afternoon.

"Good evening, citizens of Jump City," he said, "Earlier this afternoon, my Slade-bots planted several large and powerful bombs in vital buildings within the city itself. This was done while the Teen Titans were dismantling a sizable amount of my robots.

"My demands are simple: Deliver to me the living body of Terra Markov by noon tomorrow or those devices will be detonated. Attempting to find them will result in detonation.

"If Terra is handed over to me, I will divulge to the Titans the location of the bombs as well as this." He held up the detonation switch.

"Titans: I will tell you where to meet me tomorrow morning." The tape ended.

"Police have been placed on high alert," the announcer said, "And workers are asked to stay home tomorrow. As we have no clue where the bombs are located, the authorities will be closing all inbound roads into Jump City effective at 6 AM tomorrow morning. No one will be allowed into the downtown area."

"Looks like no rest for the weary," Edward sighed.

"Cyborg," Robin said.

"Already on it, Rob," he said, getting up and heading for his lab.

"What are we going to do?" Terra asked, face already pale.

"What we always do," Starfire said, "Find Slade and proceed to do the kicking of the butt."

"How do we know Slade will even keep his word?" Raven asked.

"We act as if he's not willing to keep his promise," Robin said, "He's obviously bent on getting Terra back. But, why?"

"Revenge," Edward surmised.

"Explain, please," Starfire said.

"It's relatively easy," Edward said, "He isn't really interested in getting Terra here back under his control.

"I'm sorry, Terra, I do not mean to talk as if you are not here. It's kind of needed.

"Slade's willing to cause billions of dollars in getting Terra back and if anyone else dies, he's seeing them as collateral damage. This means he's declared war on the team. Today's fight was, indeed, a distraction as well. He has to avenge his own death, actually. I'm immortal, but, dump me into a lava bath and it might take decades to recover from the damage, if at all. Yes, even immortality has limits and, well, 2,000 degree molten rock is probably enough to end my existence. But, assuming that it didn't and I came back. It wouldn't matter HOW I returned, I'd be looking for the person who turned me into overcooked tofu.

"Combine that with being betrayed by the same person and, well, all bets are off. I know I'm capable of destroying a city and in a draconic stage of rage, I might end up killing thousands in the process. Luckily, even in 3,000 years, I've not reached that particular point of no return."

The team paled, even Raven who definitely didn't look good paled.

Robin said, "Slade's personality and 'code of honor' would demand revenge on Terra and by extension the Titans, then."

Edward nodded, "You got it."

"Would Slade know that you can shapeshift into any of us?" Beast Boy asked.

"Possibly," Edward said, "It's common knowledge that I can do that. Since at least 1889, I've been 'out of the closet'. But, I know there's folklore, especially in upper New York State that mentions me."

"Come to think of it," Raven said, "I've seen some of that folklore. It made for an interesting read."

"I bet, Rae," Edward said with a chuckle.

"But, we can't dwell on that. We have to assume that Slade has done his homework on me," he continued.

"We have to use that to our advantage somehow," Robin said, deep in thought, "But, how?"

* * *

><p><em>That, gentle readers, is coming up next! It will be a few days in coming, so, bear with me. I've got a few houseguests for the foreseeable future and I have to give them priority. So, please accept my apologies in advance for making you wait.<em>

_Please don't forget to R/R when you have a moment. Who knows, one of your ideas might be adopted OR you could find yourself written in as a walk-on character :)_

_There's one other note that I thought I'd pass along: According to Greg Cipes Twitter page for the first time, if you have Cartoon Network in HD, the show is now broadcast in HD at 9:30 AM ET/PT._

_*Shameless plug time*: Speaking of Greg Cipes and Twitter, If you have Twitter and follow him, you might get a surprise: He tends to return the follow! He truly appreciates his fans by returning follows. But, if you folks want to see Raven's polar opposite, you have to follow Tara Strong. She's way funny!_

_Hynden is also on Twitter...rarely posts though. Same with Khary Payton. And Robin fans...Sorry, while Scott Menville is also on Twitter, he's not posting at all :( _

_"Yo, Rob! You gotta try out this Twitter thing!" _

_"Sorry, Cyborg, I gotta help Edward and Terra catch that ^()&(%$&^ Slade!"  
><em>


	5. Inner thoughts and concerns

**Chapter 5  
>[The next morning]<strong>

The team had stayed up all night finishing their planning. Edward didn't say much to Terra, but, he was pleased that she was allowing the rest of the team to help her.

[Terra's doing pretty well, all things considered,] he said to Raven telepathically.

[Don't let that fool you, dear. Terra's fuming,] she said.

[Why?] Edward asked.

[It dates back to before she was petrified. I sense that she's hurting under the anger,] Raven said.

[I'm not surprised at that,] Edward said, [I've wondered that as well at times. I think part of this might have to do with her problems before the team met her. She seems to have self-esteem issues, but, I'm glad to see she's letting the rest of the team help her. I wish I had more time to study her mannerisms and attitudes to better mimic her.]

[If Cyborg gets her rings ready, she can probably use me for a disguise or something. You can't use her powers any more than you could use mine,] Raven said wistfully.

[I'm going to meditate for a while,] she said with a soft smile. Edward smiled to himself as well.

**[Cyborg's Lab]**

Cyborg put the finishing touches on the rings that Terra would have to wear. He needed to know what Terra should look like, though. She was close to Raven in height, but, the size difference (5'2" for Raven, 5'4" for Terra) was just enough that Raven wasn't a good match.

But, it was a toss-up between Edward and Starfire as they are similar in size.

The other problem was Terra's powers. If she overdid it, the rings could short out, rendering them useless and blowing the cover totally. Slade certainly would be able to figure out which was the real Terra and which one was Edward.

Cyborg was hoping that they would have had more time in which to test different configurations for the rings. If he would have had time, he would have been able to figure out a way to turn Terra invisible and any indication of her powers being in use would have been disguised behind Edward's use of her form.

**[Robin's room]**

Robin was able to get an hour of sleep and knew it would have to do. He didn't want to risk overdoing it.

He wasn't happy that Slade was calling the shots and against his better judgment opted to have the team stay in the Tower. There was no sense in spooking Slade into detonating those bombs early. Even if there was a chance that Slade was bluffing, the team had to assume that there were several high explosive bombs.

He didn't really like the plans, either. Too much was left to chance on short notice. Terra's disguise might falter before Edward put his part of the plan into motion. It depended on Slade being convinced that he had captured Terra and to give up the detonator to the bombs. Either that or Edward would have to wrestle the device away from Slade in a hurry.

One thing that Raven had stressed earlier that evening is that Slade's devices typically had a failsafe built in. Her and Terra found out in their second mission the "hard way" when Slade's attack on the tower went into high gear when their controls were smashed by a 2 ton rock.

If the detonator was destroyed, there was a good chance the bombs had a timer backup that would activate if there was a loss of signal. Not even Edward could throw that far.

But, it was all that they could come up with.

**[Terra's room****]**

The geomancer was also concerned. Next to Robin, she knew the most about Slade and, well, she had no problems giving him up to the Titans. It was part of her payback plan. She would betray him one last time, the way she did the Titans and tell them every possible thing she knew about him.

There wasn't enough time to give the full story, but, Terra was determined to see it through. She knew that if she didn't, there's be no closure and she'd be left wondering if there was any loose strings.

She hoped that Edward could pull off the ruse. He had to convince Slade that he was Terra.

She was more than ready to kill Slade herself, but, after talking to Edward a few days prior, after she was more willing to listen to not just him, but, the rest of the team. The initial talk had set in but, Terra had needed to ask a few more questions.

**[Edward's Room]  
>[Four days earlier]<strong>

Terra had become curious and wandered over to Edward's room to talk. She was surprised to see his door open and she called out, "Hey, Edward?"

"I'm here, Terra," he said, "Come on in."

Terra came in and saw that Edward and Raven were sitting next to each other.

"I'll come back," Terra said.

"It's all right, Terra," Raven said, "You can stay. Please, sit down."

"You sure?" Terra asked. She still felt uncomfortable around Raven at times."

"We're sure, Terra," Edward said, getting up.

"Coke?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said with a smile.

"Why was the door open?" Terra said.

"So that the others will not think that Raven and I are doing anything funny," Edward said.

"If the doors were to be closed," Raven said in her usual monotone, "The others might think Edward and I are engaged in…" She blushed heavily.

Terra put things together, "No need to say anything else."

"Thanks," Raven said with a sigh.

Edward handed Terra a glass of Coke, Raven got some Sprite, and Edward a 2d glass of Coke.

"What's shaking, Terra?" Edward said.

"Well," she said, "I'm confused about something. Since I know that Slade's back, part of me wants revenge, plain and simple. Part of me is hesitant to get even. What should a hero do?"

"Good question," Edward said, "As you know, I've lived a very long time, so, I've worked alongside different heroes and heroines.

"Some thought that it was proper to avenge wrongs or deaths instead of bringing the person responsible to justice the right way. They, like you, sought my advice and some took it. Others still opted for revenge and paid dearly for it.

"The thing, Terra, is that we're looked on as heroes and protectors of Jump City. We cannot seek revenge, no matter what the person did to them.

"This is especially true for you. There are people out there that were reminded that you and Slade worked together to take over the city. They might not care that you sacrificed yourself when all was said and done. If they see you as seeking revenge on Slade instead of letting the Titans do their job, that will make it harder to get you a pardon from the Governor and the President.

"If they see you as letting the Titans work alongside you, they will be more likely to forgive and be supportive of those pardons."

Terra thought for a moment, "I haven't been pardoned, yet?"

"No," Edward said, "That I will take care of after this mission. Both tend to hear me out more than they do most folks. If I suggest they consider a pardon, they will. They might not agree right away, but, I can be stubborn at times."

Terra smiled at that news. She hadn't told anyone that she was worried that she'd have to do some time in jail due to her past.

"The bottom line," Raven said, "We can't stop you from seeking revenge, but, remember that we can't have your back if you go that route. No matter how you feel, let the team help you."

Edward reached out to Terra with a hand and was surprised when Terra took it.

"I know Slade hurt you badly, Terra," he said, "You have to try to set as much of that aside as possible. We're not going to expect you to put every single hurt aside, and, if you want to chuck rocks or whatever at him with something like 'This is for …' insert some hurt here, fine. If you even want to save your last move for 'And this one's for me,' I'm not going to say anything."

"You didn't tell anyone what we talked about?" Terra asked.

"He didn't," Raven said, "I'd know if he did and boyfriend or not, he'd get smacked."

[Ouch!] he said via the link.

[Dear, please don't use the link in cases like these. You give something away and you might not have to worry about me…Terra would literally bury you,] she replied and closed the link.

Edward raised an eyebrow in response. Terra interpreted that to mean he was actually a tad concerned with Raven's threat. She tended to make good on them.

"I gave you my word, Terra. That stands until you die or you allow me to tell others. And, even after your death, my sister-in-arms…I still would not say anything unless there was an overriding reason," Edward said, "This time you have an impartial witness in Raven."

"No offense, but, she's your girlfriend," Terra noted, "Not exactly neutral or impartial."

"I know Raven enough to know she'd kick my rump regardless of her feelings towards me. She's one of the few that actually has my permission to kick my rear end," Edward said.

"I noticed that you don't call her 'Rae' anymore," Terra said.

"That's intentional on my part," Raven said, "I don't mind it coming from him, but, I did ask him to use my name in public. In the Tower, that's OK."

Edward smiled as his girlfriend. He was learning that she was really uncomfortable with "PDA".

But, she made time each day to visit Edward (or he'd visit her) for some physical time. In many ways, the empath was opening up. With Malchior behind her and Trigon also out of the way, her mind was recovering.

But, she hadn't let him re-enter Nevermore since the rescue. She had, however, relented and let her emotions use the link when needed. _That_ was interesting as they all sounded alike. Edward had to determine which one was which by their inflections. Like if the voice was really mirthful, it was usually Happy. Timid piped up at times, mainly to ask a question or two, and so on.

They talked more, mainly to assure Terra, again, that the team would be there for her.

**[Present – Raven's room]**

Raven was probably the calmest one so far. She was actively meditating and inside her own mind, talking to several emotions to see if there was anything else that could be done.

"I think," Knowledge was saying, "that there's not much more that can be done. It's up to Edward to pull this mission off and we can support him like we do the rest of the team.

"That's a BIG help," Raven said sarcastically.

"What do you want me to say?" Knowledge groused, "I don't think your books will say much about immortal Dragons, especially those that take a human girlfriend. He's got the experience needed to look like Terra, but, does he know enough to act like her long enough to get the detonator from Slade?"

"I'm sorry," Raven said, "I don't know the answer either."

"You will need to use the link," Logic piped up, "It's logical to use all assets available to your disposal. We know Terra very well and if need be, project Terra's mannerisms and speech on the fly."

"Terra will be very nervous," Timid said, "I hope she can do her part."

"He can," Raven said Timid, "I have full confidence there."

"I do as well," Brave said, "I was impressed with his actions recently, you know."

"You're impressed with the rest of the team," Raven allowed.

Raven meditated in thought for a while longer as she chanted her mantra in a slow, soft voice.

**[Starfire's room]**

Starfire was really concerned for her friends. They had become her family after she was forced to exile Blackfire from Tamaran forever. Starfire did desire to return to her first home, to see how the planet was recovering from war, but, she knew it would have to wait a while.

"I am worried, my little bumgorf," she was saying to the larva, "Friend Edward might not know enough about friend Terra to act like her. But, as long as friend Edward gets that detonator of the bomb, it should be all right."

Silkie merely made some noises. He was used to his k'norfka's musings. It beat Killer Moth's treatment of him.

"If the Slade realizes that Edward is Terra, boyfriend Robin is ready for that, though, I think. Slade seems to want the revenge more than friend Terra," she said.

Silkie rubbed against Starfire to show that he was trying to understand what she was saying. The Tamaranean princess had a reason to be concerned. While she trusted in the team's ability to defeat Slade, she was worried about the devices as well. How would the Titans defuse the bombs in time?

**[Edward's room]**

Starfire wasn't the only one concerned. Edward had enough time to study Terra's mannerisms since he met her, but, with a lot of things riding on his performance, even he had his doubts. She'd spent a lot of time with Slade, so, he'd know a lot about her.

He was also apprehensive about getting that device and the locations of the bombs as well. Once the Titans had that information, they'd spread out to get the bombs either defused or out of the city where they could explode harmlessly via teleport.

There would also have to be an element of surprise involved. Edward would have one shot to knock Slade out. If Edward failed, he'd have to have a plan B in mind…or Terra would as Edward fully expected her to want to apply the final touch. She'd probably bury him, literally.

As Edward and the team were going over their plans and trying to deal with any lingering doubts, there was a chiming sound throughout the Tower…

* * *

><p>I know...short chapter. Go figure :)<br>As the story evolved in the ole brain, I realized that while our geomancer friend certainly would want revenge, she really did voluntarily do everything Slade asked her to do. She's remembering that Beast Boy was absolutely right. She chose to follow Slade, chose to betray the team to Slade, and, yes, she initially chose to sleep with the sleazeball. But, she's also had time to reflect on her actions and realized that Slade planted the seed of doubt in her mind regarding the Titans.  
>Folks, I know I'm re-inventing Terra here as well as the other characters to some degree :) Terra, I'm writing as if she got a clean slate and is wanting to reform from being the "bad apple" in the Titans basket. She's on a personal quest, in a way. That will play out as the series progresses.<p>

Thanks for reading :)


	6. Driving to Meet Slade

**Chapter 6  
>[Titans Tower Common Area – 6 AM]<strong>

The team had gathered in the common area in response to the doorbell. Robin had signed for the special delivery and entered the area.

"This is it, Titans," he said, opening the envelope and finding a mini-DVD.

"_Hello Titans,_" Slade said after the mini-DVD was inserted.

"_You are to bring Terra to me, hands bound where I can see them, to coordinates 34.1058 North by 116.653 West by 10: 00 AM today._

"_When she is delivered, she is to be accompanied by Robin only. If there is any deception, I will detonate the devices._

"_Oh, leave your communicators home. I don't want any surprises._

"_After I am satisfied that I have Terra, I will tell Robin where the devices are hidden and you may remove them. I only require my apprentice back._"

The tape ended and Cyborg punched the coordinates into the mapping system. After a moment, it showed nothing but desert with mountains to the west.

"Yo," Cyborg said, "This is in the middle of nowhere. It's about 130 miles east of here."

"It would take a couple of hours to get there by the T-car," Robin said.

"Problem is that Slade would most likely be looking for the T-car," Edward surmised, "I could teleport the team there or at least close enough to allow Robin to drive a few miles for appearances.

"But, I also have a feeling that there may be spies along the entire route. Maybe it's best if we played this one even."

Terra looked determined to do this. She knew that this was going to be her test: To see if she'd fall under Slade's spell again or truly redeem herself in the eyes of the Titans.

Cyborg handed her the rings and said, "You need to be careful with these. They will refract light around you, making you invisible. Tapping them together will activate them or deactivate them. Just tap your fists together and that will to the trick. There will only be an hour of power available, but, it should be enough. It's a beta unit, so, use with caution. I almost used it to disguise you as one of the other Titans."

"Can I use my powers?" she asked.

"Make sure that you're as close to Edward as you can and walk in his footsteps, literally. As long as you're not overdoing it, you should be OK.," Cyborg said.

"Then again," Robin said, "Binding Edward's hands might discourage Slade from asking Edward to prove that he's actually Terra."

"The only thing I'm concerned about is getting the detonator and the location of the bombs," Edward said, "Luckily, we can leave the communicators here."

"Yeah," Raven said dryly, "With you and I sharing spaces in each other minds, why use the Titan communicators?"

"Well," Robin said seriously, "Those devices are here in Jump City and if there's some kind of failsafe or Slade's trying to trap us, at least Slade doesn't know about that link you two have. That's OUR failsafe."

"We need to leave shortly," Edward noted, "I have a feeling that Slade's got someone watching the Tower to make sure that we're upholding our end of this deal. You got some flexi-cuffs?"

"Always have several in my utility belt," he said.

Edward nodded, "Good idea.

"My thought here is to shapeshape to Terra early, Terra can use her rings to hide until we're out of range of the tower, then, lay back and relax in the back seat and turn off the rings."

Robin nodded, "Sounds good to me. How about you, Terra?"

"Time to take Slade down," she said. Her initial fear had turned into a hard resolve and the fight yesterday only made her more determined.

[Stay sharp, my love,] Edward said via the link.

[Count on it,] Raven said, [I can be there in about the same time as you if needed.]

[I know,] he replied, [I'd need you to get the team to the locations of the devices and have the Bomb Squad ready.]

[Right,] Raven replied. Edward felt a mental smack through the link as Raven did a facepalm.

[Take care, Rae,] he said.

He pulled Raven into his arms and kissed her. She hugged back and returned the kiss. The other Titans picked up their jaws long enough for the other two couples to do the same thing.

Edward didn't want Cyborg left out and held his hand out.

"Nah," Cyborg said, "We be family and in my family, there's no shame in hugging." He pulled Edward into a hug, which was also returned.

Starfire grabbed Edward and said, "Be careful, friend Edward. Don't let boyfriend Robin and friend Terra get hurt."

Edward returned the hug and said, "They'll be fine, Star. I'll protect them…as long as you don't shatter my bones!"

Starfire released the hug and blushed, "Sorry."

Edward was rubbing out the bruising from a Starfire hug…again.

"Take care of Terra," Beast Boy said, giving Edward a hug as well.

"You know I will, Green Bean," Edward said with a laugh.

Edward, Terra and Robin went to the garage. En route, Terra activated her rings as Edward shapeshifted to being Terra.

"Not bad," Robin said, "Can you maintain that form indefinitely?"

Edward replied, "There were a few times when I had to maintain a female form for a long time. This does feel weird, though. I'm used to, well, being a male, if you get my meaning."

Edward felt a playful smack from Terra, "Watch it, wise-guy. I know two other gals who would love taking that 'male ego' down a peg or two."

"Can't get anything passed you, can I?" Edward asked.

"Nope," she answered with a chuckle.

Edward shook his head with a laugh of his own.

They reached the T-car and they got in. Robin would have to handle the driving for the others, it would have been odd to see 'Terra' driving the car. So, as they started driving across the bridge to get into the downtown area, they hit the roadblock and Robin had to explain to the police that they needed to get through. The team members were allowed to proceed after checking with the command center.

Within 20 minutes, they were leaving the city behind and Terra had deactivated her rings to save power. She had, indeed, stretched out in the back seat and was snoring softly.

Edward was also relaxing and meditating a bit to pass the time.

[Edward, dear,] Raven called, [Cyborg says that Robin needs to set the T-Car scanners for Slade's bots.]

[All right,] he replied.

"Robin," Edward said, "Raven passed on a message. Tune the T-Car to scan for Slade-bots, please."

Robin hit a few buttons on the scanner system and there were several blips along the route.

"Damn!" Robin muttered. "If they can see into the passenger compartment, they'll record three passengers instead of two."

[Rae,] Edward relayed, [The scanners are detecting several hits along the route. Terra's sleeping in the back seat and if the bots can see into the car, they'll relay three passengers, not two.]

[Hold on, I'll ask Cyborg,] she said.

A few moments later, she replied, [Cyborg's sending a remote command to the T-Car. It should darken the windows in a few moments.]

Sure enough, the windows, save for the windshield darkened to a point that it was hard to see in.

[Can Cyborg also mask infrared and possible ultraviolet?] Edward asked.

[Cyborg was one step ahead of you, dear,] Raven said, [The windows do that anyway.]

"No need to worry about IR and UV," Edward reported, "We should be good to go."

Edward sighed, [Thanks, Rae!]

[You're welcome,] she said, [See you soon.]

They drove on in relative silence, not wanting to wake Terra until they had to or she woke up on her own.

As they drove through the mountains and saw the desert floor ahead of them, they knew they were getting closer to their destination.

Seeing as they were early by several hours, Robin decided to pull over and get some breakfast. As Edward had agreed to help fund Titan operations (Being an immortal Dragon meant Edward had a LOT of resources at his disposal), Robin wasn't worried about finances.

He stopped at a Burger World and got three of their large breakfasts to go. By then, Terra had woke up and said, "Why are the windows dark?"

"Slade's got us under watch," Edward said, "I had Raven ask Cyborg to make sure you weren't seen."

"Wish Beast Boy and I had that link," she groused.

"You have to be willing to give up a piece of yourself, though, Terra," Edward said, "I accept that Raven's a constant presence in the back of my mind, as I mentioned before. She's got my constant presence as well."

"How do you see Raven?" she asked.

"She's a soft purple glow most of the time. When she's more agitated emotionally, that glow increases in response. Like when she's feeling more affectionate, it's brighter and more inviting. When she's annoyed, it's goes more towards blue. When she's downright angry, it enlarges but grows darker, almost black. If she's frightened, which is rare, it quivers," Edward explained.

"How does she see you?" she asked.

"I never asked," he said.

[I see you as a soft red glow most of the time,] Raven piped up, [At times, your emotional state also bleeds through. When angry, it's almost blood red. Happy and it's a warm, inviting red-pink. I haven't seen you frightened, yet, to see what that it is.]

Edward relayed to Terra what Raven told him.

"Wow," Terra said, "Totally awesome. Does she always speak up?"

"No," Edward said, "She keeps to herself a lot of times, mainly outside of missions. Raven's really a private person all around. She's only saying things now cause she's actively monitoring the link. I'm sensing that she's concerned with what could happen.

"I do the same thing when she's out on a solo mission. We both stay on stand-by, ready to provide backup if needed. Raven knows I'm a capable fighter regardless of form. I know she's capable of handling herself in a fight as well. But, it only takes a second to call for backup.

"But, it's hard for me at times regardless. That's my protective nature, though. I want to protect the entire team from harm. I can absorb far more punishment than almost everyone else. I have to remember that we are a team and everyone has their roles.

"You have a role, for example. Usually, it's either throwing boulders at the enemy, or giving Robin an assist to get into a larger enemy's face."

Terra smiled, "Thank you."

"Terra," Edward said, "I wish I could go back and alter history. Had I been with the team when you first came to the Titans, I think you would have found the acceptance you needed outside of Slade. But, if I could fix every single thing that I know would alter history in any way to suit myself or how I think this mixed up world should be, I'd be playing God and that's not cool."

"You could have taken over the world, you mean?" she asked.

"Yeah," Edward said, "Hundreds of years ago, I could have done so easily. Before guns were invented, definitely. Who could have legitimately challenged me? In Dragon form, swords, spears and other weapons would have broken on my scales. Range weapons were mainly wood based, so, flaming them would have been easy."

"Ever thought of taking over?" Robin asked.

"I've been tempted to," Edward said, "But I never wanted absolute power over mortals. It would have corrupted me past the point of no return. I know that humanity needs to grow and evolve. My taking over, Robin, would have denied humanity that opportunity. Had I become an absolute tyrant, especially in the pre-gunpowder era, no one would have been able to overthrow me. I'd need to be in dragon form all the time to prevent a lucky strike. Certain inventions might not even exist."

"So, you took a less aggressive approach?" Robin surmised as they drove the last 20 miles.

"I had to," Edward said, "I don't regret that decision at all. Humanity has developed so much as a whole without my interference."

"What about today?" Terra asked, "Why do you go out of your way to help people like me and the Titans."

"It falls in line with my life's work," Edward explained, "The Teen Titans were doing just fine without me. I was hoping to settle down for a few years and take a break. But, a bank robbery changed all that. Robin saw that I was on his side right away and made a choice to trust me."

"Terra, don't take this the wrong way," Robin said, "We didn't trust anyone after your defection to Slade. We couldn't risk it again. Edward showed up and the first one to trust him was Raven. She's the one that realized that Edward would be a good addition to the team. But, his help in stopping those robbers and then detecting that you were alive and helping restore you when Raven wasn't able to alone convinced me I made the right choice in adding him to the team. You were always a Teen Titan, Terra, despite what happened. Like I told you before, I promised Beast Boy I'd give you another opportunity. I haven't regretted it."

Terra reached out and gave Robin's shoulder a quick squeeze to let him know that she understood where Robin was coming. Robin smiled softly, but, everyone knew that the Boy Wonder wasn't going to risk Starfire's jealousy or Beast Boy's as well. It would take Raven's powers to keep them from hanging Robin.

The T-Car slowed to a stop.

"We're here," Robin said. The scanners detected many Slade-bots, but, no Slade yet.

Robin looked at the clock and said, "We're early by about 30 minutes. Even with the breakfast stop.

"What I'll do is let Edward out first with his hands bound, then, when possible, open the back door and let Terra out. She'll get in line with Edward's footprints as quickly as possible and I'll cover hers with my own. Once that happens, we need to wait for Slade to make the next move.

"When Slade has made the trade for Edward and handed over the detonator and the location of the devices, we wait a few minutes until Slade starts to march Edward away.

"After that, we wait for Edward's signal. That will be what, Edward?"

"When you see me reforming my regular self, Slade won't mistake the deception, so, I'd only have the element of surprise for a second. Then again, there might be a 'romantic moment' just before. I haven't decided, yet.

"If he asks me to prove I'm Terra, she's going to have to pay attention as either Slade will ask for one of these boulders to be moved. If that happens, Terra, your job is to do as he asks, short of taking out the T-car or one of us, even if he threatens me otherwise. He does that and I'm dropping my cover. I'm not letting you guys get hurt."

Edward, who had stayed in his Terra form the whole time took a deep breath and said, "Get your flexi-cuffs out, please. It's time."

Robin took a pair of flexi-cuffs and cuffed Edward's wrists together.

Edward and Robin stepped out of the vehicle and Edward stood as close to the back door as possible.

Terra activated her rings and as Robin opened the back door, he pretended to look for something. Terra carefully slid off the seat past Robin, who then stood up and looked for Terra's footprints. His mask made that easier. Then, stepping into Terra's tracks, used his boots to change the patterns.

Robin looked at the clock and saw that Slade was due any moment.

"Hello, Terra," Slade said, walking out from behind a pillar of rock…

* * *

><p>Ooooo! Cliffhanger time! What will happen in the next chapter? I can tell you that the time for chit-chat will be over. Someone's going to get their keister kicked.<p>

There's going to be plenty of action in the next chapter, that's for certain. Will the bombs go off? Do they even exist or is Slade bluffing like in "Apprentice (Pt 1)"? Time will tell!

That said, Thanks for reading and bearing with me on the delays.

Final thought...Happy New Year, everyone :)


	7. Terra gets revenge and Bombs explode!

**Chapter 7  
>[Desert near Salton Sea]<br>[A/N: This is where the coordinates are that were mentioned in Chapter 6…Hehe.]**

"Hello, Slade," Edward said in Terra's voice, "What's shaking?"

"You are," Slade said, "I never expected you to be rescued from your stone prison."

"I didn't expect you to come back, either," Edward said, "Last I knew, you were in the lava you forced me to bring to the surface. A fitting end for someone who deserved to be in Hell."

"That is not the way to greet your master!" Slade snarled, then said, "There will be time for me to retrain you. And, this time, you won't betray me"

"What do you mean?" Edward asked.

Slade pulled a needle out and before Edward could react, Slade injected him.

"What did you do?" Robin demanded.

"Ensured that Terra keeps her word. She's been injected with the same insurance I had against you," Slade said.

"Those nano-bots," Robin said.

"What nano-bots?" Edward said, looking as Slade.

"Oh, that's right," Slade said icily, "Those little buggers are really nasty. I hit a button and they destroy your blood cells or put you into extreme pain."

"Those were unnecessary!" Robin cried.

"On the contrary," Slade said, "Terra will serve my every whim at the cost of not only her life, but, the rest of the Titans as well.

"WHAT?" Edward said.

"That little fight yesterday? Well, that implanted nano-bots in the other Titans," Slade said.

[Raven!] Edward called through the link.

[Ouch!] she said, [What's wrong, hon?]

[That bastard! He's infected the team with nano-bots!] He snarled.

[Not again!] Raven said, [Time for us to get de-botted.]

[Do that later,] Edward said, [Those bombs come first.]

Edward sighed, as did Robin and the real Terra.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?" Slade said, grabbing Edward by the wrists.

"Not so fast," Robin said, "There's a matter of a detonator and location of some bombs."

"Quite right," Slade said. He put a device on the desert floor and an envelope as well.

"Go ahead, take them," he said, "I won't stop you this time."

Robin walked over to the detonator and picked it up, along with the envelope. He opened the envelope and saw a list of 10 buildings where the bombs might be at.

"Here's the deal," Slade said, "You get into that pretty blue car and drive away. If you stop for any reason before you are 30 miles away, Terra here dies a horrible death as well as the others. I suggest you start now."

The planning anticipated that move and Terra carefully backtracked to the T-car, using her footprints as a guide. Robin made a show of opening the front door and waited 15 seconds to allow Terra to climb in.

Robin closed the door and started the vehicle. He turned around and pulled away. He didn't go far, though, he could see on the scanners that the Slade-bots had repositioned themselves and he had a short area where there was no coverage.

After the car had disappeared, Slade pulled Edward along towards a helicopter.

"We're going to start by teaching you how to respect your rightful master," Slade hissed and drew his hand back to strike Edward.

"How about I teach you not to mess with my friends, instead," Edward said coldly.

"How dare you?" Slade said angrily and swung as hard as he could, only to meet a grip a lot stronger than he expected.

Edward grinned ferally and said, "I have a surprise for you, pal." He snapped the flexi-cuffs and before Slade could react, he was sent flying through the air.

"No more pretenses," Edward said, reverting to his human form and pouncing on Slade.

"You should never have done that," Slade said. He pulled a device out of his pocket and pressed a button.

He heard a pained scream through the link. His eyes glowed yellow, but, nothing else happened.

"You should be writhing in pain, like your friends!" Slade said.

"Gift of being immortal, Slade, a gift you will be stripped of. Your devices couldn't attach themselves to my blood cells," Edward snarled.

[Hang on, dear!] Edward said through the link.

Raven screamed, her aura glowing black-purple in his mind.

Edward growled, "You've made this VERY PERSONAL!" His eyes went from yellow to red.

Slade didn't even have time to react as Edward picked him up, seized the control and hit the only switch. There was a beep and Raven gasped in relief through the link. Edward crushed the device.

By then, Robin and a visible Terra had returned to Edward's great relief. They looked like they had been through the wringer.

Edward saw them approaching and said, "Hey, Terra? What should we do with Slade?"

Terra walked over to Slade and as Edward held his arms, she hissed, "This is for making me turn against my friends!" She punched him as hard as she could in the gut.

Rocks started floating and she said, "This is for Beast Boy!" A rock flew and slammed into Slade's gut.

"This is for Robin!" she yelled. Another rock flew and slammed into Slade's arm. Edward heard the bone snap.

"This is for Starfire and how you hurt her!" she said, slamming another rock into his other arm, snapping that bone as well.

"This is for making me try to drown Raven!" This time, a leg was snapped.

"This is for Cyborg!" That rock went into the ribs. She didn't break any ribs, but, it would leave a heckuva bruise!

"And, this is for my virginity," she whispered into his ear. The next rock slammed into his groin. **That** caused Slade to scream in agony. His nads had been smashed.

"Finally, this one's FOR ME!" she screamed. The largest rock yet slammed into Slade's mask, cracking it, but, not killing Slade outright. Slade slumped in Edward's arms, out cold.

Edward's eye, by then, had stopped glowing.

Robin grabbed Terra, but, the geomancer was done. She would allow Slade to live and got a measure of revenge. She collapsed in tears.

"It's over?" she whispered softly.

Edward laid Slade on the ground…Even he had his limits and showed Slade some mercy. He was beat within an inch of his life.

Edward ran over to his little sister and joined the hug.

"Ya did good, Terra," Edward said, "It's over, for good. I'll take Slade somewhere where he can't return."

"Where will you take him?" Robin said.

"Depends on how he answers a couple of questions I would like to ask him. If he agrees to cease chasing Terra, he gets a trip to prison to serve out his life. If not, he might find himself the only human on Earth. If he's trapped 500,000 years in the past with proto-humans, he's gone for good. Maybe I might just take him to a point in time right before an asteroid impact. He'd get ringside seats to the extinction level event that wiped the dinosaurs out. Or maybe the asteroid blast in 1908. I'd love to stick him on the _Titanic_, but, I was there helping rescue people. I don't recall rescuing a man with these injuries, though," Edward mused.

"Might I recommend something?" Robin asked.

"Certainly," Edward said.

"Just take him to prison regardless," Robin said, "That's what we do with other people that we capture."

"How do we ensure he stays there?" Edward asked.

"I can talk to Batman for you. He knows several out of the way prisons for a man like Slade to live in for the rest of his life," Robin replied.

"I'd like that," Terra said, sniffling.

"Ya sure, little sister?" Edward asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure…Big Brother," she said, acknowledging for the first time that she considered Edward as her family. She smiled as she realized what she said and put a major bear hug on Edward.

"You mean that?" she asked.

"With all my heart, Terra Markov," Edward said, "While Rae's my girlfriend, the rest of the team is family, regardless of their past."

"You know my real name?" She asked.

"I know most of the team's real names, except for Robin," Edward said, "If he wants to tell me, that's on him."

Robin leaned over and whispered, "Richard Grayson, you can call me Dick in private."

Edward said, "Deal, Robin."

Slade started to stir and moan.

"Time for some mercy," Edward said, walking over to Slade, and after lifting his mask, slugged him hard enough to ensure that he'd be out for a while, then, replaced the mask.

"There's first aid stuff in the T-Car's trunk," Robin said, "I hate to waste this stuff on Slade, but, we should anyway."

"Hand me the note, please," Edward said, "I have to relay that to the team back home."

Robin did just that, then, tended to Slade's injuries. He really didn't want to, but, there was a begrudging respect between the two.

[You OK?] Edward asked, sitting on the hood of the car.

[Hurting, but, we'll be fine,] Raven said, [Did you get the locations of the devices?]

[We did, hon,] Edward said, then, relayed the locations to Raven.

[What happened to Slade?] Raven asked.

[Terra worked him over badly,] Edward said, allowing a wince to go through the link.

[That bad?] Raven asked, [I sensed you were really ticked at first.]

[I was, Rae,] he replied, [But, it wasn't my place to give Slade what he deserved. Terra broke his arms, a leg, his manhood, and a stone to his mask.]

[His what?] Raven asked, not believing what she heard.

[His manhood,] Edward said.

[Stoned his groin, huh?] Raven said with a laugh.

[You can't tell the others, dear. I can't say anything else without breaking my word to Terra,] he said.

[I understand, but, Beast Boy and Cyborg are looking at me funny,] she said.

[Go get those bombs, sweetheart. We'll be back quite soon,] he said.

"Normally, I'd heal these wounds," Edward mused aloud, "But, since we're taking him to jail, these fractures will keep him in one place until his trial."

"Agreed," Robin and Terra said at the same time.

Robin had finished wrapping up the injuries to Slade and said, "How do we transport him and us?"

"Put him in the back seat," Edward suggested, "Terra, you sit next to Robin. I'll lift the T-Car into the air and teleport back to Jump City."

"What about the rest of the team back in Jump City?" Robin asked.

"Raven said that they're hurting, but, that they'll be fine. By now, they should be leaving the Tower to find the bombs," Edward replied.

"Good," Robin said, "Give me a hand with Slade, please."

Edward took Slade's shoulders while Robin handled his feet. Robin went into the T-Car first and strapped Slade's feet down as Edward secured the man's shoulders.

Edward waited till Robin and Terra were secured and said, "Hang on, we'll be home in a few moments."

He transformed to a larger Dragon and carefully lifted the T-Car off the ground. He became airborne a moment later and teleported back to Titans Tower.

**[Titan Tower]**

Edward emerged from the teleport and set the T-Car down outside the garage.

[Edward,] Raven called out. She sounded agitated.

[We're back at the Tower. What's wrong?] he said.

[The bombs have a failsafe timer! They just became active as well,] she said.

"We've got a problem, Robin," Edward said aloud, "Raven's saying that these bombs are activated."

Both his and Terra's jaws dropped hearing that.

Slade had awakened and said, "That's right, Titans. I took precautions. As soon as one of the Titans got near, they activated a timer."

[Edward, Cyborg says that he can't disarm them without blowing them up. There's only 15 minutes before they explode!] Raven said.

"Don't try to disarm them," Slade said, "They have several other failsafes built in and there's not enough time to find and remove them all."

[Did you catch that?] Edward asked Raven.

[Yeah,] she replied.

[I'm still in Dragon form,] Edward said, [Where are you at?]

[The first location on the list,] she said.

[Good, I'll need you to feed me what you're seeing right now. I'll be there in a moment,] he instructed.

He blinked and saw a mental image as Raven was seeing it.

"I'll send EMS over here as well as law enforcement ASAP," Edward said, "I'm off to remove those bombs."

Edward went to his mini-dragon form.

"How?" Slade asked.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"How did he talk to Raven?" Slade asked.

"Short answer: Raven and Edward are telepathically linked," Robin said as Edward lifted into the air and teleported.

**[Office building basement]**

Edward emerged from the teleport and returned to his human form.

"Am I glad to see you, dawg!" Cyborg said, "This puppy's got a ton of backups. There's no way to disarm them."

"I know," Edward said, "I can probably teleport them to a safe area."

"I don't think so," Raven said, "There are motion detectors in this. We move it and it might explode."

"Get out of here, then," Edward ordered, "I have to teleport from a ground position and the only defense I have are my scales."

Raven covered herself and Cyborg with her soul-self. She teleported then to safety.

Edward returned to his larger Dragon form and said, "Here goes!"

He gently grasped the first bomb and teleported. He emerged five miles out to sea and 5,000 feet up.

The timer jumped from 12 minutes to 15 seconds. Edward released the bomb and teleported back.

"Next location?" Edward said.

"Cyborg to Starfire," Cyborg said after pulling out his communicator.

"Starfire here," she said, "The bomb is going to explode, friend Cyborg!"

Edward took the communicator, "Hi, Starfire. Can you turn the communicator around so I see where you're at?"

Just then, there was the sound of a huge explosion coming from the ocean.

"Beast Boy to Cyborg!"

"Edward here," he said, "What's up?"

"What was that sound?" he said.

"Bomb 1 exploded over the ocean," Edward said, "Can't talk now, though. I gotta run to get those other bombs. Raven's going to teleport Cyborg to spot four. She'll meet me in spot 5."

Edward closed the communicator and looked at Cyborg.

"Titans, GO!" he said. As the second-in-command, it was his call to continue anyway.

Raven covered Cyborg with her soul self again and they were gone. Edward teleported to Starfire's location.

"Friend Edward!" she said happily, "You've come to get rid of the bomb of destruction."

"No time to chat, Koriand'r," he said apologetically, "Fly out of here and get to location 6, please."

She left and flew to the next spot.

Edward gently grabbed hold of the bomb and teleported to the same location as before and released the bomb, then, teleported to Beast Boy's location.

"Head for location 7, BB," Edward said as another explosion sounded in the air.

Another teleport and dropped bomb later and Edward caught up with Cyborg (after a quick peek to see where he was at.)

"Off to location 8, Edward," Cyborg said.

"Wait for Raven to teleport you," Edward requested, "She's my next stop."

"Gotcha!" Cyborg said.

As Edward went to teleport, he saw the timer hitting the 4 minute mark.

_Gotta hurry!_

He teleported the bomb and released it. He teleported to Raven's location.

"Teleport Cyborg to #9 please, then, head for the last one," he requested and planted a super quick kiss on her cheek, "Almost done!"

She teleported to get Cyborg. Then, Edward repeated the teleportation again.

After another thunderous explosion reverberated, Edward was catching up to Starfire once more.

"You can head back to the tower, Star," he said, "Could you make sure that emergency services and police meet you at the tower? Slade's there and needs medical attention."

"Friend Terra?" she asked.

"Yeah, Terra got her revenge," Edward said, "Go on, we'll explain to you folks shortly."

Starfire left then. Edward only had two minutes left. He grabbed the bomb and teleported again.

The bomb was dropped and he headed to Beast Boy's location.

"Head back to the tower, please," he said without preamble and without waiting, grabbed the device and teleported.

The area was coated in heavy smoke as Edward threw the bomb as hard as he could and teleported.

There was only 30 seconds left as Edward grabbed and teleported a ninth time.

The bomb was dropped into the sea and he teleported once more…to Raven.

He got there as the bomb's timer hit 5 seconds.

_DAMN! Not enough time!_

"DUCK, RAE!" he yelled and she dove behind him. He fired his lightning breath, hoping to short the device out totally.

The bolt hit the device as it exploded!

* * *

><p>Oh...a major cliffhanger!<p>

Well, there's one more main chapter and the epilogue to go :) But, depending on the length of the next chapter, I might just combine the conclusion into the chapter.

My next story is up for grabs. I'm pondering bring in another character I like...Kole (Sorry Kole/Jericho shippers. I don't have enough background on them to justify a pairing. Don't fret Gnarrk fans. I can't use Kole without her BFF, right?) However, if anyone has a different idea, I'll consider it. But, I'm also leaning on a fluff piece for the three couples. They will need some dating time, I think.

Thoughts? See the little link below? It's there for a reason...to let the writer, whoever he might be know what you think. So, please take a moment to let me know what's in your heads. Good, bad or whatever, K? I can take it.


	8. Slade has a blast at two Titans' expense

**Chapter 8  
>[Under the collapsed building – a few minutes later.]<strong>

The bomb had exploded as Edward's desperation attack hit it. The shock wave pushed him backwards as the building started to collapse around them.

One of the falling pieces of debris hit Raven in the head and knocked her out before she could raise any shields.

Edward was able to extend a wing to cover his beloved as the building came down.

[Raven!] Edward called. No response, not even from one of her emotions.

Edward pushed upwards, but, even with his strength, he couldn't move it. He's been trapped in collapsed buildings before and would teleport away. This time, he couldn't. Not with Raven there and with a head wound.

[Come on, babe,] he pleaded, [Someone, anyone! Please respond.]

Still nothing from the other side of the link…

**[Titan Tower]**

The other members of the team had safely arrived back at the tower and watched the distant explosions as the rumbling hit them.

They were stunned when there was one explosion, much closer and as the team looked in shock, there was a scream followed by a blur. It was Starfire racing towards a building in the throes of a collapse.

"No," Terra moaned and sank to her knees, followed by Beast Boy.

Cyborg looked at Slade and said, "You best hope for your sake that Edward and Raven weren't in that building…or you're a dead man…again!"

Beast Boy growled deep in his throat and made to lunge for Slade, but, Robin said, "Save it for later. We gotta help Starfire."

Beast Boy stopped and formed a flying reptile and grabbed Cyborg and took off towards the dust cloud.

That left Terra and Robin."

"Terra," Robin said, "Can you get us there?"

She nodded and said, "Hang on to my waist, Bird Boy."

He helped her to her feet and she levitated a large chunk of the ground under them. Within seconds, she had caught up to Beast Boy and passed him up. She looked back real quick and before Slade could realize what was going on, the T-car was being lifted on a pillar of rock. The pillar went to just below the level of the Tower and the message was unmistakable: Try to escape and you will fall to your death.

Moments later, she landed near the building's remains. Beast Boy and Cyborg arrived moments later.

Starfire was frantically trying to move rocks and cement.

"Whoa!" Cyborg yelled, "We can't just move things like that! It could collapse any spaces Edward and Raven might be in. We don't even know if they are in there!"

Starfire said, "My friends are under this! We have to get them out of there!"

"Easy, Starfire," Robin urged his girlfriend, "Cyborg…"

"Already on it," he said grimly, running his scanners to see where Edward and Raven might be.

His face fell a moment later, "They're under this mess all right. I'm picking up Edward's vital signs loud and clear. He's agitated."

He hit a button and said, "We have to get in there, like yesterday. Raven's with him, but, her vital signs are weak. I can't tell from here, but, she's definitely down for the count."

Hearing that, everyone paled. They knew Edward's protective streak towards Raven and with her out cold, they realized that he was staying near her.

"There's another problem," Cyborg was saying, "I don't know how long Edward can hold up. There's hundreds of tons of debris around him. One wing's damaged as well. Looks like he tried using that to shield Raven."

By then other emergency services had arrived, police were busy cordoning off the area. Firefighters were arriving along with others.

Beast Boy offered to try to find the two missing Titans, but, one of the officials said, "We can't allow that just yet. We have no idea how stable this pile is. You could bring it down more."

"We just can't leave them there!" Beast Boy objected.

"B," Cyborg said, "The man's right. It's going to take a while to see if this is stable or not."

Terra said, "Let me try. These are rocks basically."

She focused on one block of cement that was resting on top of the pile and it actually moved a little bit. But, even Terra couldn't move cement.

She slumped in defeat, "There's not enough there for me to move safely…"

**[Under the rubble.]**

Edward was straining to keep the pile from collapsing any further. He kept trying to contact Raven telepathically every few minutes without a response. He sensed that she was still alive as her purple glow was still there in his mind, very faint. If it disappeared, Edward was going to risk changing his size and teleporting her out, regardless of what else happened.

[Come on, sweetheart,] he said, [I know the others are here by now, they'll get us out.]

Edward couldn't waste much energy with verbal communications anyway. He was slowly tiring and his wing throbbed where cement had punched through, leaving holes there. Normally, that kind of damage healed quickly, but, he could see that some chunks had not fallen through completely and the wing couldn't repair itself until the obstructions were cleared.

Raven's communicator had fallen out of her pocket and Edward strained to reach it. His neck wasn't quite long enough, so, he used his tongue to retrieve it.

_Blech! This tastes terrible._

He was able to get it open somehow.

"Edward calling Robin," he said.

"Robin here!" he heard, "You guys OK in there?"

"I'm injured, believe it or not," he said, "But, never mind me. Raven's out cold with a head injury. She needs the infirmary, like yesterday. How long before we're out of here?"

"It could be a while," Robin said, "Engineers are looking at the damage to see if Beast Boy can try to get in there first."

"Send him," Edward said, "The rubble's as stable as it's going to be. If he does a mole or something small with good eyesight, he probably won't disturb the pile."

"We'll see what we can do from here," Robin said, "How long can you hold out?"

"Maybe another couple of hours, at most," Edward said, "But, unless Rae gets medical attention soon, that time won't matter one freaking bit!"

Robin made a decision…He looked over at Beast Boy and said, "Go, Beast Boy."

Outside the building's rubble, Beast Boy shifted to a ground hog and raced towards the rubble and when he got there, he shifted to a chipmunk and headed into the pile.

He had the basic idea where Edward and Raven were trapped and given that Edward's heart would be pounding, Beast Boy was hoping that he'd hear that.

Edward tried to look around to see if there was any light sources as he waited. There wasn't any that he could see right off hand, and, he wasn't feeling any breezes.

That meant that the oxygen supply could be running low. Edward slowed his breathing to as low as he dared, but, with him exerting a lot of energy, he couldn't go into a hibernation type slowdown.

Beast boy, after about 20 minutes located Edward and Raven.

He shapeshifted back to human and saw the glowing yellow eyes from Edward.

He crawled to Raven and felt for a pulse. There was one, and, it was pretty strong for a gal who had a huge lump on her head.

"Dude," Beast Boy called up, "I think Raven's going to be OK!"

"Did you check her pulse?" Edward whispered.

"Yeah, it's pretty strong," Beast Boy said.

"Count it off for me," he said, "I'll tell you when to stop."

"OK," he said, "Ready when you are."

"Go ahead," Edward said.

Edward counted to 15 seconds and said, "Stop."

"I counted 20," Beast Boy said, "Is that good?"

"Well, I don't know Azarathian biology, but, she's got 80 beats per minute. It's a little fast, but, that's good," Edward whispered with a slight groan.

"I want you to check her breathing for me," he said.

"OK," Beast Boy said, then, let out a yelp.

"I think I touched her breast…She's going to kill me!" he said.

"Dude," Edward whispered, "I'll deal with her wrath. This is a medical emergency and I'm giving you permission to touch her breasts if you have to! MOVE!" The last word was practically snarled.

"All right," Beast Boy said, trying again. He knew he was touching Raven in a place that would get him shipped to another dimension, but, did as Edward asked.

A minute later Edward said, "How many?"

Beast Boy said, "15"

"All right," Edward said, "Thanks. I know it wasn't that comfortable for you. She'll be fine, but, we have to get some oxygen and soon."

Beast Boy nodded, "I'll see what can be done. Just hang on."

He shapeshifted back to a chipmunk and retraced his steps. It didn't take long for him to find daylight, though.

He looked around and saw the rest of the team and ran towards them.

Starfire spotted him first and flew to him. She was happy to see Beast Boy as he shapeshifted back to human and brushed off the dust.

"How are our friends?" Starfire asked.

"Well, Edward's holding up," he said to a groan from Starfire and the others, "Sorry…bad pun. Raven's out cold with a nasty bump on her head, but, according to Edward, her vitals are strong. She'll be fine.

"But, the air's pretty stale. Edward said they need oxygen very soon. He's got a damaged wing as well."

Robin went over to talk to the emergency personnel and told them that there were survivors buried under the rubble and they would need air at least.

There was a look of alarm from the captain in charge of the operations and he said, "You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Robin said, "Two of my teammates are buried alive there. One is in need of medical attention."

"Well, it looks like the rubble's fairly stable. We're going to start to remove this soon," the man said.

"Beast Boy is telling me that they are running out of air," Robin said.

"How can they be running out of air?" the fire captain asked.

"Short version, one of the victims is Edward Barnes and he's in his dragon form," Beast Boy said.

"That new member we've heard about?" the fire captain said.

"Yes," Robin said.

"Why hasn't he powered his way out?" a firefighter asked.

"I think he would normally, but, his girlfriend is the other victim," Robin explained.

"Girlfriend?" the same firefighter asked.

"Raven's his girlfriend," Cyborg replied, "He's staying to protect her. She's the one that's out cold. Now, do we start moving this stuff or do I start blasting?" He changed his arm to the sonic cannon and lit it up.

Starfire powered up as well, eyes and hands glowing. Terra started powering up as well. Beast Boy changed to his elephant form and trumpeted.

"Easy, Titans," Robin said, "Where's the best place to start moving stuff?"

The engineers pointed at a spot on the rubble and said, "We think the best angle is here. Slowly come in from the top and work our way down."

"Can we get some air to them in the meanwhile?" Cyborg said.

They thought for a moment and said, "We can probably snake a line through to them and start pumping in air…"

**[Under the rubble]**

Edward was growing more concerned by the minute. He was starting to strain under the weight. He knew that part of it was the decreasing amounts of available air, and the other was actual fatigue setting in.

[Raven, dear?] Edward called through the link.

He felt what seemed to be "static" as Raven was fighting her way awake.

[That's right,] Edward said, [I'm here, love.]

[Not so loud!] she said, [Hurts to use the link.]

[Sorry about that,] he said, [But, happy to hear your voice again.]

[What happened?] she asked.

[The last bomb went off. The building collapsed around us. I'm holding back the rubble,] he explained.

[Guess that's why my head feels like Trigon pounded me,] she said, sending a wince through the link.

[Rest, dear. The others are working on a rescue,] he said.

[Can't you teleport us out?] she said.

[Not with you having a head injury, I'm not. You probably have a nasty concussion,] Edward said, [Soon as some fresh air gets in here, that will help.]

Edward heard some scratching noises a half hour later as Beast Boy returned, dragging an air hose behind him.

He returned to his human form (from a snake form this time) and pulled out his communicator.

"Beast Boy calling Robin, I'm here," he said.

"Good work!" Robin said. A moment later, there was a steady stream of air flowing.

Edward waited a few moments and said, "Thanks! This helps a lot."

"How's Raven?" Beast Boy asked.

"Merely sleeping," Edward said, "We talked for a few moments through the link."

Beast Boy smiled, "Great! Hey, you should be freed pretty soon. There's a lot of people working to remove the rubble."

"Nice to hear," Edward said, "I can tell the weight's coming off."

"You going to let Raven teleport out?" Beast Boy asked.

"Not really," Edward said, "She's got a concussion for sure. We'll wait."

"I need to head back," Beast Boy said.

"Go ahead," Edward said, "I'm sure that they could use your help. I'd suggest a gorilla for you to use."

"OK!" Beast Boy said, then transformed back to a snake and headed out.

**[2 hours later]**

It took a while, but, Edward finally felt most of the weight coming off his back to the point he was able to flex a little bit and get the kinks out of his back.

"You OK?" Raven asked. She had woke up an hour ago and was told not to even think about using her powers until she was checked out.

"Well, all things considered," Edward replied, "Yes and no. I'm relieved that you're awake obviously, but, I'm not liking having to be trapped."

"I'm sorry, dear," Raven said.

"It's all right, Rae," he said, "What's some discomfort compared to the loss of a loved one, right? You'd do the same for me."

She patted him on the snout. His eyes glowed softly in response and throwing some light into the area as well. It was a soft yellow glow, indicating that he was pleased, instead of getting annoyed. He'd gladly take that burden, any day.

As that was happening, there was a rumble from above and some dust fell on Edward. Raven moved close to Edward as a precaution.

**[Outside rubble pile]**

While Edward and Raven were talking, the other Titans and other personnel were removing the immense load. Beast Boy had taken Edwards advice and assumed a gorilla form to help move the heavier chunks.

The load was being transferred to waiting dump trucks when the whole load shifted several feet as it collapsed away from where Edward and Raven were still trapped.

Starfire was the first to sense the mountain shifting and warned, "The mountain of cement is collapsing!"

That got everyone off the pile quickly. Beast Boy went to pterodactyl form and grabbed Robin as Starfire grabbed Cyborg. Terra summoned a boulder and flew off the pile on that.

The pile took several moments to shift before it stopped.

"Robin calling Edward or Raven," Robin said after opening his communicator.

"Raven here," she said.

"Hey, I'm glad to hear your voice," he said, "You guys OK?"

"Yeah," Edward called down, "What happened?"

"We had a minor collapse out here," Robin said.

"I thought so," Edward said, "The load's shifted more to the side. I can actually stand easier. This might be enough for me to break through. I can shield Raven better if I can get my tail around her."

"Can't she use her powers?" Robin said.

"I'm not recommending that," Edward said, "She was mentioning a bad headache and I'm sensing that on an empathic level. It's too risky."

"Understood," Robin said, "Be careful. We'll get the work crews to safety first."

"Get them at least 400 yards away," Edward recommended.

Edward heard a stranger yelling, "Everyone clear out! Barnes is going to try to break out. 400 yards! MOVE IT!"

"A foreman?" Edward surmised.

"Yeah" Robin replied, "We're moving as well. I'll call back when everyone's clear."

**[Under the pile]**

Edward was able to move his tail to protect Raven, but, just barely. The rubble made it difficult to move his neck and tail, but, with some effort, he managed the feat.

By then, Robin was calling back to tell him that everyone was a safe distance away. Edward smiled, knowing that he had a decent chance of breaking free from the remains of the office building.

"Cover your head and ears, sweetheart," Edward advised.

"I'm ready," Raven said.

Edward slowly lowered himself and with a groan, pushed upwards with all his strength. The effort resulted in the rubble moving to the sides more and more, but, it wasn't enough in the first attempt.

But, Edward was encouraged to try again.

"Keep it up!" Robin called through the communicator.

"Yes, friend Edward," Starfire cheered, "Please keep moving the rocks."

Terra focused on her powers and even though she would have a hard time lifting the cement since it wasn't exactly earth, she had to try. With a scream she unleashed her abilities as Edward shoved upwards once more.

That did the trick! There was a huge explosion of cement, steel and other materials as Edward broke through with a roar!

"Man!" he yelled, "That feels good!"

He carefully climbed out of the pit and shook the wing loose at the same time. Once the obstructions were cleared, the wing healed in a few minutes and Edward was finally able to retract the wing.

After he was totally clear of the pile, he set Raven down and for the first time since late morning, Edward resumed his human form.

It was a good thing as the energy needed to do that pushed Edward over the edge and Starfire caught him as he collapsed!

* * *

><p>OK...Just need the epilogue and this one's done!<p>

A side note: Thanks to arizonahawk711 for the idea to do this particular story and also for pointing out in the last chapter that I left out having Terra toss a rock at Slade for Cyborg! That's been edited in.

I know that it would have appeared in the previous chapter that Edward was going to open the can of whoop-ass on Slade when he heard Raven's scream through their link. Edward certainly could have ripped Slade's head off and ... well, you get the idea. Gotta keep it somewhat clean for the younger set.

But, I digress...Edward wanted to do just that, but, knew that Terra absolutely needed the closure to a painful part of her life. She didn't kill him, because Edward and Raven showed her a different path. (Oh, that part was lifted from a Walker, Texas Ranger episode I remembered...One of Walker's enemies tried the "Let's kidnap Alex" trick, along with some other stuff and Walker, before each hit would say "This one's for Trivette...This one's for Alex...and this one's for me!")

Questions/comments/suggestions? Little link down below is really good for that, right? I'm open to CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, as arizonahawk711 is discovering (She also reminded me that Raven's not as warm as I was portraying her, so, I toned that down a bit.)

See ya next chapter :)


	9. Epilogue

**Conclusion  
>[9 AM – Next day]<strong>

"Ugh!" Edward said, "Feels like I got run over by Terra in a bad mood."

He looked around and saw that he was in the infirmary with an IV in his arm.

"Easy there, champ," Cyborg said, "All that exertion yesterday severely drained you dry. I had to put in an IV to rehydrate you and fix your blood chemistry. The teleportation and then protecting Raven from the collapse did a serious number on you."

"Where's Raven?" Edward demanded.

"Right here, you lunkhead," she said, coming into the room. She looked like she spend some time in a healing trance.

She came over to Edward and shooed Cyborg out of the room for a few moments saying, "I need to talk to my boyfriend."

Cyborg said, "No problem. I'll let the others know." He left.

Edward looked into Raven's eyes and was surprised to see tears there. She was fighting them back as Edward sat up.

"Come here, babe," he said holding his arms out. Raven fell into his embrace and shuddered.

"Hey, it's OK," Edward said, "I don't see anything here breakable. You can let it out, ya know."

That did the trick. Raven's control faltered, then, collapsed. She started sobbing, but, Edward wasn't sensing any sadness, it was more of relief.

He just held her as she wept and started sending waves of calm through the link.

[What's wrong?] he asked.

[I'm scared,] one of the emotions said.

[Timid?] Edward guessed, recognizing the softer voice.

[Yeah,] she sobbed, [You did so much for us yesterday, protecting us, making sure that we were going to be all right. Why?]

[It's what I do, Timid. When I accepted Raven as my girlfriend, it was a package deal…creepiness and all. You're part of Raven. Timid, you're the one that makes Raven exercise caution. Did you know that?] Edward asked gently, continuing to hold Raven.

[Someone's got to,] Timid said, [Brave would rush headlong into pretty much anything.]

[Timid, I love you as much as I love the rest of Rae's emotions and Rae herself. I couldn't allow her to come to harm if at all possible. I'm sorry Rae and you girls got hurt yesterday. There wasn't time to fully protect her and she didn't have time to even protect herself,] Edward said.

Raven looked up and saw the look of concern on Edward's face.

"You're hugging me," she objected, but, the soft smile betrayed her true feelings.

"How's your head, dear?" he asked.

"Still hurts a bit," she admitted.

Edward carefully removed the IV in his arm and waited a moment for the wound to heal, then, focused his own healing touch before gently putting his hands on her head.

He removed them a minute later and said, "How's that?"

"Much better, dear," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"I've been thinking, Rae," Edward said.

"About what?" the empath asked.

"I know it's a bit out of character for you, but, maybe at least here in the Tower, it's OK to let the others see the affection we share. Robin and Starfire are OK with us seeing how close they've become. Same with Terra and Beast Boy," Edward said.

"I've been meditating on this, actually," Raven said, "I'm OK with it and the emotions are as well. I don't want the public to know, yet."

"Agreed," Edward said, "I'm sure people will figure it out, but, let's not confirm or even deny anything if asked."

"Sounds good to me," she said, briefly hugging him again. Edward could see that Raven was happy, and, well, that made him happy as well.

All was right in the world of the Teen Titans. Edward hoped that this would stay for a while…

_Edward Barnes writes…_

_Slade's sitting in a prison cell after his failed attempt to get Terra back as his apprentice and, Robin will be closing the file on his soon as he's sentenced…whenever that will be. He's facing charges that would keep him behind bars for centuries, so, he'll no longer be a threat. Batman has indicated to Robin that there's a nice cozy cell waiting, so, that's a relief all around._

_Terra's the most relaxed anyone's seen her in weeks, though. The relationship with Beast Boy is moving along quite well, I think. But, I think their biggest test will be soon. I know Beast Boy will be highly upset when Terra tells him what she's entrusted to me, and why Slade still talk funny._

_Same with Robin and Starfire. They've become quite close in the last few weeks, and, that, of course makes everyone more at ease._

_Raven's doing well. She's no longer showing any outward sign of her mind being shredded a month ago. She's happily in love with me, as I am with her. I know she withdrew for a while to deal with that issue. It hurt to watch and feel her pain at the time._

_Cyborg found the equipment to remove the nano-bots from the team members, so, those will no longer be a threat to any of us. The remaining Slade-bots have been dismantled and sold for scrap, bringing the team some additional funds._

_I'm hoping, though, that things settle down for a while._

The End…For now

* * *

><p>Well, that's it for this installment, folks :) Next one's going to be more of a fluff piece, I think. The Titans need a break...LOL!<p>

A quickie note to SapphireDragon. Thanks for the review/comment! Not to worry, Raven's still going to be warmer around the team. I had to tone things down a little bit as Raven was recovering from a vicious attack from Malchior a couple stories ago. She's going to be fully recovered in the next story.

Also, Kole is going to be coming back along with Gnaark. I like the way she was portrayed in the series, and, now that Gnarrk's gotten a bit more exposure to the technology that typically frightens him, he might be more willing to spend time in the surface world. That story will be fairly soon. I need to work on some ideas for that. Will she be in the fluff piece? Will I make her a more permanent member of the team? I'm not sure since Kole has some deep seeded dislike for being outside her secret world.

See you soon :)


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